Enduring Echoes
by Jaslazul
Summary: While the Star Fox team plans for a vacation, what they receive cannot be farther from it; the past is not as easily buried as many would hope, for it has a tendency to rekindle memories best forgotten and feelings best unfelt. Fox/Wolf
1. Chapter 1: Vacation

**Disclaimer:** All characters are copyright (©) 1997+ by Nintendo. I do not own any of the characters used, except those I create, if I do choose to do so. Please ask before manipulating them for your own evil intentions if you plan to.

**Warning:** As you might have read in the summary, this is indeed a slash story. There probably won't be any of going on until later on, maybe chapters… I don't even know, five or so? Don't quote me on this. This is not, however, a story strictly invented for the purpose of romance. There will still be a storyline, and I feel quite confident about it.

**Summary: **While the Star Fox team plans for a vacation, what they receive could not be farther from it. The past is not so easily buried as many would hope. Eventual Fox McCloud/Wolf O'Donnell pairing (slash).

**Author's Note:** This is the first time I've written anything, excepting, of course, schoolwork. Sheesh, I thought it would be a lot easier than this, but writing's actually pretty tough work. This is also the first time I've tried to write something romantic, especially a slash story : /. I'm hoping it won't turn out too… disastrous. Only time will tell, I guess.

This is loosely based around Star Fox 64.

**Edit**: Updated a little bit on this chapter. Got rid of a bit of unnecessary crap. I'm still... hestitant to touch most of it for several reasons, but, I figured I could get rid of some of the glaring things. Also somewhat updated the summary and stuff. I think this story gave a lot of people the impression that it was sexual. v.v That's remedied, I think.

* * *

Fox gazed through the tempered-glass window, watching as the fluorescent green hues of Sector Y faded into the distance. The recreation room of the Great Fox was one of the few places on the ship where he could get a good view of the world outside. There was always the bridge, but he found the atmosphere here to be preferable. It was where he spent most of his time.

He let out a sigh as the Sector faded out of view, deciding unconsciously to go check and see what the others were up to. It shouldn't be too long until the landing, he thought. Probably less than half an hour. He made his way casually to the door that led to the lift, and jumped backwards as it opened in front of him. He blinked, then chuckled a bit.

"Peppy? What are you doing down here?" he asked. The hare saw the rec room as more of a place for the "younger people to have their fun." Fox could never see how he related comfortable seating to being young, though he did see the hare's point about the billiard tables and their related paraphernalia. Peppyhad to be looking for him.

Peppy grinned. "What's wrong, can't an old man have his fun too?"

"Er.. Sure, it's just, I wouldn't have thought-"

Peppy waved a hand to silence him. "Nah, I'm just joking," he said, "Everyone else is up at the bridge. They're all ready to get off this ship and back on to solid ground again."

So, he was right after all. He had to hold back a laugh. "So, let me guess, you want me to come up there too?"

"Well, that was the idea. We figured we'd have a meeting before we dock," Peppy said as he turned to walk out, towards the lift.

Fox followed him. "What kind of meeting?" he asked as they entered the lift and Peppy set it up to take them to the bridge.

"You know... what we're going to do next. After we get these samples from Aquas dropped off, we won't have anything else to do."

"So, what are you saying?" he asked. The obvious course of action would be to look for more missions. The others had to have something else in mind if they were having to think about it

"Well, you see," Peppy said, "we just saved the Lylat system not too long ago, and we haven't even stopped to celebrate much. We just went back to work, doing jobs, making unnecessary money. I think it would be good for everyone if we had a little... vacation."

"Vacation?" Fox asked. "To where?"

"I don't know, that's why we're meeting on it."

* * *

They rode the rest of the way in silence, until a sharp "ding" sounded, signifying the elevator's arrival. The hydraulic lift doors opened and the pair stepped out onto the bridge. It was a massive compartment with large windows occupying much of the frontal space, providing an excellent view; Corneria could be seen in the distance, a blue sphere marred with faded white streaks. Aside from the windows, consoles and monitors of various sizes dotted the room. Of course, there was an autopilot system, but all of the mechanisms needed for manual overrides and complete operation of the ship were nestled here, in case need arose. Slippy was seated in one of the various chairs positioned around the room, and Falco was standing near him. They both turned to look at Fox.

"Hey, Fox!" said Slippy, beaming.

"Hey Slippy, hey Falco," he said, not quite matching Slippy's exuberance.

"So, what's this I hear about a vacation?"

Slippy glanced towards Falco, looking a bit nervous. "Um... well, we've been doing missions and stuff for months now, and we haven't really spent any time away from the ship. It's great working with the team, but I think maybe we need to take a break from all of this. We're heroes throughout the Lylat System, and we haven't really done anything different since saving it…" He trailed off.

Fox winced. Really, the attention that they would receive, especially that he would receive, was why he insisted on continuing their normal routine of doing missions. They surely didn't need the money. As crazy as it sounded, they had plenty of that. He was never too fond of excessive attention, and to be able to get away from it plus help the people was a good thing, from his point of view. This mission in particular was a godsend; they had been collecting samples of the pollution in Aquas to send to researchers who might be able to reverse its effects. It had been relaxing enough so far. No real work was involved, except on his part with the Blue Marine, plus it left plenty of travel time to goof off in.

But then again, he wasn't the entire team. Not of all of them thought the way he did, and he had to respect that.

"Y'know," he started, "saving the galaxy didn't make us any different than we were before, except maybe a little stronger..." He saw Slippy's face droop a bit. "But, I guess I could go for some vacation time, as long as there's not an emergency or anything," Fox said.

Slippy jumped out of his seat and cheered. "Yipee!"

"You know, that's what I said too, Fox" said Peppy. "Maybe you're getting old," he joked, elbowing the vulpine in the side.

Fox laughed and returned the elbow, before he was interrupted by Slippy's voice. "Alright, so, I've been thinking, I've done research, and there are some really cool places in…"

He let himself drift off while listening to Slippy's plans. He caught small pieces of information, such as the idea of staying near a beach, or in a condo in Corneria City. All of Slippy's suggestions seemed a bit too public, but he'd let the toad have his fun. A little harassment by the public wouldn't be life-threatening. He stole a glance at Peppy. He was looking forward to time off as well. Maybe their missions were a bit too fast paced for the old hare...

Nah. Peppy was a tough man, no matter his age, and he was probably just looking forward to it for the same reasons that Slippy did.

Falco, on the other hand, probably had about the same mindset as Fox did. Piloting was his hobby, something he enjoyed. He probably wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of his fame, though. He grinned at the thought.

He broke out of his reverie and held up a hand to stifle Slippy's endless barrage. "You know, I think I'll just let you handle it. You probably know more about this stuff than I do anyways."

For a moment, Slippy looked hurt at being silenced, then his face lit up as he seemed to take in everything the vulpine had said. "Alright, cool." he said. "Umm... How long will this last?"

"Hrm," Fox thought aloud, "I guess just until something important comes up that we have to do, or until we all get bored."

"Something important?" It was Falco, speaking up for the first time.

"Yeah, something we have to do, like.. I don't know, a crisis to handle or something."

The bird squinted. "You think that's going to happen?"

"I don't know, it's just, it's been a long time since Andross's defeat, and nothing bad has happened yet."

"Don't be a pessimist," said Slippy.

"I'm not!" Fox said. "I just have a feeling something bad is going to happen."

Slippy looked like he was about to say something else, but Peppy intervened. "I think we'll worry about that when the time comes," he said. "We'll stay alert, but I think we need a little time off after all we've done. What do you say?" He looked up at Fox.

"I guess so, but in the meantime, Slippy, I think we have a ship to land." He pointed towards the windows, showing a view of Corneria rapidly approaching.

"Oh! Right!" Slippy's face flushed as he ran off to tamper with the consoles.

Fox once again let out a sigh, once again awaiting their landing. Vacation might not be such a terrible idea after all, he thought. He was actually beginning to get somewhat excited. Really, what could go wrong?

* * *


	2. Chapter 2: Assignment

**Author's Note:** I apologize for the skipping around that may happen between (or sometimes in) chapters, but I think some mundane details are best left out.

I've written and rewritten this section many times and I still can't get it to where I want it to be, but I'm ready to just move on with the story already : /. Anyways, have fun reading this ridiculously butchered chapter, if possible.

--v--

Fox sat back in the padded chair and let his thoughts wander. Already he was feeling the boredom that he knew would come with the team's self-afflicted furlough. It wasn't just that though; he missed the ubiquity of the bright stars and the brilliant sectors, the types of wondrous beauty that could only be seen from a starship. The lack of the steady, bass rumble of the engines was also a bit unnerving.

They had decided to stay in a cheap hotel in Corneria City for the moment, but he knew that that would change eventually. It was just a quick way to start; he knew Slippy probably had a lot of extravagant things in mind, and dual hotel rooms with two beds and a bathroom each wasn't one of them. Luckily enough, nobody had really taken much notice yet to who the latest residents of the city were, but he knew that would come eventually.

The receptionist's reaction, though, was another story.

A flip of a coin had decided that he was to room with Peppy, which he didn't mind at all. It was far better than listening to Slippy rant about the future. It wasn't that he was too overly irritating, Fox just knew that the toad could handle things far better on his own. His mind was suddenly filled with images of Falco listening to Slippy's plans. He let out a bark of laughter. Maybe he should have opted to room with the bird.

A few staccato knocks interrupted his thoughts. He got up and approached the door, gazing out the peephole to see Falco and Slippy. He opened the door and let them enter without thought.

"Hey," the two said simultaneously.

"Hey, what's up?" Fox asked.

Slippy answered. "We were thinking that it was about time to go get some food." Falco nodded his assent.

The vulpine shrugged. "Sure, whenever Peppy gets back."

Falco looked around, probably noticing for the first time the hare's absence. "Where is he?"

"Oh... Uhh.." To be honest, he'd completely forgotten. "Maybe he's moving some more stuff. He didn't bring much yesterday." He paused for a moment and scratched his head. "I'm not really sure," he admitted. The task of moving was an unexpected one, but in retrospect, it wasn't necessarily unwelcome; at least they had something to do, no matter how trivial.

A look of suspicion settled over Slippy's face. "He didn't tell you where he was going?"

"Well, yeah... I think I kinda forgot." He winced, over exaggerating the motion a bit.

Falco snorted. "Wow," he said, drawing out the word. "That's pretty bad, even by your standards."

Fox cast a mock glare at Falco before giving in. Admittedly, it _was_ pretty bad.Yeah, I guess so. He should be back soon anyway..."

"I guess we'll just have to wait," said Slippy. "What are we going to eat, anyways?"

"Food," said Falco with mock seriousness.

"Ha ha, very funny," Slippy said, obviously not amused.

The bird grinned uncharacteristically. "Actually, I was kind of thinking we could go to Mora's."

"Sheesh, taking advantage of our money already?" Slippy scolded.

Falco merely shrugged. "It's a good place."

The two were quick to start up a casual discussion about lunch, and with nothing better to do, Fox joined in, adding in comments when appropriate. Their conversation strayed aside from lunch; somehow, they ended up talking about other things: the past, their plans for the future, and Peppy's absence. Minutes ticked by, and a knot of apprehension was slowly forming inside Fox. He couldn't get Peppy out of his mind. What if he was in danger? What if he needed help? Sitting around and talking certainly wouldn't be helpful.

Wait, something was different. The room was quieter... they'd stopped talking.

"Fox?" It was Slippy, he realized.

"Er... Yeah?"

"Well...? What do you say?"

...Oh. He realized that Slippy had asked him a question, and he hadn't even heard it. "Sorry, I didn't catch what you said. Can you repeat?"

"I asked..." He shook his head, as if dismissing something. "Nevermind, it's not important." He squinted for a moment, as if he was examining Fox closer. When he spoke, his voice was serious and full of concern; there was none of the good spirit that had been there only moments earlier. "Why've you been so quiet? Is there something you're thinking about?"

"Yeah... I guess so." He let out a sigh, knowing how ridiculous he would sound. "It's just, you know, what if something happened to Peppy?"

Both the bird and the toad regarded him strangely. Silence pressed down on him like a tangible object. Had he said something wrong? Worrying about a teammate wasn't a crime last time he checked.

Thankfully, Falco broke the awkward silence with a guffaw. "Wow, man, you need to lighten up. Nobody's going to rob him or... or..." Yeah. That's right. People _would_ rob him. He was one of the richest people on Corneria at the moment.

"Exactly," Fox said gravely.

"Nobody even knows him! I'm sure..." He growled, an odd, strangled sound. "Why are you obsessing over something bad happening?"

"I don't know. I just have this weird feeling..."

"Fox," warned Slippy, "I'm sure Peppy's fine. He can handle himself, otherwise he wouldn't be so old and still be alive."

He was trying to make a joke out of the situation. Fox appreciated the effort, but it was wasted. "I still think we should do something... Maybe we should go search for him, or call him at least."

"Fox, this is Corneria City," Falco admonished. "What are we going to do, run around town asking everyone 'have you seen this hare'?"

"I guess you have a point, but still... I think we should ca-" Fox froze in mid-sentence and looked up. What was that sound?

Slippy looked around, probably noticing Fox's sudden movement. "What's wron-" The vulpine held up a hand to silence him.

There it was again... What was it? It sounded like... It was someone at the door! Someone was frantically trying to get in. Fox rose from his seat and padded to the door. He glanced through the peephole to behold Peppy, but something was wrong. He was panting, out of breath, and he was fidgeting so much that he wasn't able to unlock the door. "It's Peppy," Fox called out, before opening the door and letting the hare in.

Or, at least that's what he intended to do. The old hare didn't make any move to enter the room at all. "Peppy? What's wrong?" He knew that his feelings had to be right. Something was amiss.

The hare paused for a moment to catch his breath. It looked like he had been running a marathon or something. "Get to the Great Fox. Now," he said, gazing at each one of the Star Fox members in turn. Without explaining or waiting for them to agree, he turned and ran towards the stairs.

The trio followed suit immediately. Fox was confused, but he understood the apparent urgency of the situation. Peppy wouldn't act this way unless the situation was dire. He was pretty sure that the others felt the same way. Nevertheless, he wanted answers.

"Peppy, what's going on ?"

The panting hare took a moment before answering. "Fox... there's no time. You'll have to find out when we get on the ship. We have to hurry."

Fox nodded to show his understanding and focused on keeping up with the others. He _knew_ that something bad was going to happen, yet the knowledge didn't make him feel any more prepared for what was to come. Peppy _was_ pretty grave.

The distance between their hotel and the area where the Great Fox was being docked was short enough that using a vehicle would only slow them due to the excess of traffic. They half jogged, half ran the rest of the way to the station in silence, Fox being too absorbed in his own thoughts to feel the strain of their jaunt.

--v--

They hustled aboard the hulking starship, narrowly escaping the wave of overzealous fanatics that they had managed to attract on the way. As they entered the lift that would take them up to the bridge, catching their breath in the process, Peppy spoke up. "Slippy, I want you to set course for Fortuna when we get up. We'll get the exact coordinates after we contact Pepper."

Pepper? If the general was involved, this had to be something very important.

"Mind telling us exactly what's going on here?" Falco asked. Fox could tell he was a little annoyed at the lack of information. He couldn't blame him.

"Pepper will explain it. I don't know too much about it myself."

"Something's wrong with Fortuna?"

"A military base there has been attacked."

Slippy gasped. "What?"

"No way." said Falco.

Fox winced. This was worse than he had thought. If a military base was attacked, the chances were that either someone was trying to start a war or prove a point through terrorism. That person had to either be really stupid or really powerful to attempt such a move. An attack against Fortuna would be an attack against Corneria and Katina as well. "Who did it?"

Peppy shrugged right as the "ding" sounded, announcing their arrival. The old hare was the first one to step out, and he went immediately to the console that controlled the communications system.

The rest of the team filed out of the lift. Slippy assumed a position at another console, probably readying the ship for takeoff, while Fox picked a random chair to sit in, and Falco, from the looks of things, did the same. It only took the effort of one person to set a course for the ship, and Slippy was usually the one who did the job, plus, Peppy had told him to do it. Nobody was questioning the old hare at the moment; with experience came respect.

The subtle, bass rumble of the ship began to flood Fox's ears. Already, a sense of elation was creeping up into him at once again being in the ship—_his _ship.

It was more than that, even. It was _home_.

Abruptly, a glimmer of light caught his eye, and he glanced over. A holographic image of Pepper had appeared next to where Peppy was sitting. The canine was wearing his usual uniform, a red military suit dotted with golden badges, stars, and buttons. The euphoria drained away as he saw Pepper's austere expression.

Fox and Falco moved closer to the hologram, and Slippy followed suit as soon as the usual steely voice of the AI announced "autopilot engaged."

Fox braced himself. "Pepper, what's the situation? Andross isn't involved, is he? He's still dead, right?" He found he was babbling and stopped talking.

"No, Fox, it's not Andross, or isn't as far as I know... And greetings to you, too." The last sentence was laced with sarcasm. The holograph shimmered and flickered a bit. Fox took note that they were probably leaving Corneria's gravity field. "We were contacted by Orrin, a major military base in Fortuna, a while back. They claimed they were under attack, but they said that no assistance was necessary. We thought that they would be able to handle it..." He looked as if he was feeling guilty; his eyes were gravitating downwards. "So, we listened, and didn't send any help. We haven't heard anything from them since."

So, they were going to go investigate the site of an attack that recently occurred. He had expected an emergency and possibly a fight, not an investigation. It was pretty obvious that Peppy had been expecting the same thing, based on his actions. "I don't mean any offense, sir, but isn't this something the military could handle? There's tons of military outposts in Fortuna."

"Normally, that's what we would do, but I don't think that would help any."

Fox was confused. There had to be something he was missing. "Sir, you said you haven't heard anything from them since. Does that mean the base was destroyed?"

"We think so."

Ouch. That was bad news. "But if the base was destroyed, what are we supposed to do?"

"We need you to help us find out who led the attack. It could have been terrorists, but I doubt it. I fear that something much larger is at work here."

"So why don't you send the Fortuna military to investigate?" He felt like he was repeating himself, but it was such an _obvious_ solution.

"Star Fox team, don't repeat this to anyone, but we have reason to believe there was a spy in Orrin. We're pretty confident of that. We also think it's a very strong possibility that similar spies might exist all throughout the military system. There can be no doubt that they will act against us in the future."

Fox furrowed his brow in thought. "So, what we're dealing with is probably a conspiracy? A conspiracy to take over the military forces?" He wasn't going to ask what the reasoning behind the claim of espionage was. Frankly, it was none of his business. He trusted Pepper's judgement.

"That's correct. Involving anyone that we do not completely trust, especially people in the military, could be extremely dangerous."

Finding evidence of a conspiracy certainly wasn't something that he'd counted on doing as a mercenary.

Still, he noticed as he glanced around at his teammates that each of them bore the same look of determination. They were all in the mood for action now. They had already made up their subconscious minds that they had work to do, and no matter what the job was, they were going to get it done.

Besides, the reward would probably be generous.

"Alright, we'll do it, just tell us what we need to do."

"Sir," Slippy cut in. "I'm going to need those coordinates, too."

"I'll send them now, along with the information you'll need about the job."

Moments later, Pepper confirmed that he had sent all the necessary information, and bade the Star Fox team farewell. As Slippy entered the coordinates and Peppy shut off the communications, Fox padded over to a nearby chair and was about to sit as his stomach growled. It hit him all of a sudden that they had never eaten lunch. He cleared his throat. "Guys, I'm going to head down to the galley while we wait. We shouldn't be working on an empty stomach, anyway, so you might as well do the same."

He went over to the lift and was soon joined by Falco, then Slippy as he finished entering the coordinates. Peppy, though, lingered in his chair.

"Peppy, you coming?" Fox asked.

"No," the hare replied passively, "I've already eaten. I'll just make sure that everything's all right with the ship."

Fox blinked. "Already eaten?"

"What did you think I was doing? Pepper contacted me while I was eating at Mora's," he said.

That explained a lot.

"Mora's? That's not fair," Falco interjected.

Fox ignored Falco's comment. "Well, I kind of... forgot where you went."

Peppy laughed merrily. "Fox, you're not really being a good example to your teammates. We might start to get slack like you!" He laughed harder. Slippy joined him in his laughter, and Falco snickered as well.

Fox's ears lay down on his head and he felt a flush coming. He'd have to get Peppy back for that.

As the effects of Peppy's droll comments wore off, the Star Fox team, excluding Peppy, resigned to visit the galley.

As the lift went down, something was pulling at Fox, a question he couldn't answer. Why did Pepper call Peppy first, and not him? Maybe the general thought that Fox might be involved, or maybe he just trusted the hare more. He mentally shrugged, dismissing the question as just a result of paranoia.

--v--

**Endnote:** The next chapter is definitely going to introduce the Star Wolf team, and will probably come a lot faster.

One more thing, if you've taken the time to read this, please also take the time to leave a review, if for no other reason than to tell me something I did wrong. It's really not that time-consuming.


	3. Chapter 3: Orrin

**Author's Note**: Sorry for the delay in posting this, school's been a bit crazy. Future chapters will probably take a bit longer to write. Now's the time when the teachers realize that they've been slack and they try to cram in a semester's work in nine weeks. : /

* * *

Fox went through his mental checklist, making sure he had everything he needed for the upcoming events. He had his headset, the device the team mostly used to communicate; hitting the button to send a message on the Arwing was distracting during a dogfight. They usually reserved the Arwing's signals for communicating with other ships.

He also had his blaster. Usually, he brought his blaster with him just as a precautionary measure, but he felt that this time he might actually have need to use it. They didn't know if there were any enemy forces still at the base, and there was only so much that they could do while in the Arwing. There had been no signals or signs of life picked up yet, but it was possible—and quite easy—to mask those.

A knock sounded at his door. "Coming," he said, pausing in thought for a moment to make sure there was nothing else he needed. He knew the Arwing had a medical kit onboard, just in case they found a survivor. That was what he was hoping for, really: a survivor would be the best thing that could come out of this.

Satisfied, he walked to the door, opened it, and walked by Falco, heading towards the lift.

"Ready to be in the Arwing again, Fox?" Falco asked.

"You know it." he said, realizing that that probably had sounded a bit selfish. "I just hope that this doesn't turn out too bad," he added to be safe.

"Yeah, me too," said Falco.

They approached the lift and entered it, setting it to take them to the docking bay.

* * *

"All right, first things first," said Fox into the microphone, "check the status of your ship. Make sure the weapons are online, make sure the G-diffusers function properly, and so on. Make sure you have a medkit and a blaster too, we might need them."

"I'm good to go." Peppy said.

"Ready," Slippy said.

"I got everything," Falco said.

"Alright, let's go!" Fox turned on the ignition and boosted forward, rocketing out of the hangar and into the frozen confines of Fortuna.

"Now, let's head for Orrin. It should be about ten miles off to the north," he said.

As he flew towards the base, Fox wondered what would lie in wait there.

* * *

"We're almost there."

Slippy's voice echoed in Fox's ears.

Smoke began to appear on the horizon. It was thick, charcoal-black smoke that could only come from flames. As they drew closer, the patch of smoke began to grow.

"We should have a visual in a few minutes," said Slippy.

Obscure structures were beginning to appear on the horizon. Fox was by no means an expert in construction, but he could tell, even from a distance, that the buildings were not whole.

One by one, the shapes drew into focus. He merely gaped. The only mean he had of telling what once was a building and what was a fighter was size. Smoldering piles of debris littered the ground, which in itself was stained with soot from all of the ruin. Most of the snow and ice was completely vaporized.

Air left his lungs in a wheeze. This wasn't terrorism, it was mindless destruction. The last time he had seen anything near as repugnant was during Andross's attack of Corneria City.

Corneria, though, was manageable; it was able to be rebuilt. Even the land was ruined here.

"Wow," he rasped. It was all he could say.

"Now I see why Pepper called us," said Peppy

"Yeah," said Slippy.

"Fox," said Falco, his voice laden with pure malice and hatred, "we're going to find whoever did this... and he's going to pay."

"Agreed," said Fox.

Fox and his comrades reached the inside of the ruined base. His sensors were picking up nothing—there was no possible way there could be any survivors, not after something like this, he thought. It was still worth the effort to try, though. "Peppy, shouldn't there be some kind of emergency shelter here? You know, a place where people could hide from enemy attacks, or a place where people could fool sensors like we have."

It took Peppy a moment to respond. "Yea... We'll have to search on foot though. It'd go underground."

Fox nodded, then realized that the gesture was wasted. "All right. Let's all look for that shelter, then."

He landed his ship and stepped out into a mixture of freezing winds and acrid-smelling smoke. He realized too late that he probably should have worn thicker clothing. The others landed their ships adjacent to his and stepped out, every one of them looking as if he thought the same.

Falco looked the worst. Fox must have been staring, because the bird quit shaking and looked at him intently. "Can we just hurry this up? I don't do well with cold weather."

"Fine," said Fox. "Come on."

He led the way for his teammates as they treaded through the ruined base, searching for a hidden shelter which _might_ be there, and _might _have survivors who _might_ know something about a conspiracy that _might_ exist.

The idea sounded silly to him.

* * *

"Hey, I've found something!"

Slippy's voice blared through the headset, startling Fox. "What is it?" Fox asked.

"I think I've found the shelter! Come here!"

Fox tried to follow the voice. He ended up on the inside of one of the few still-standing buildings. The others were already there. The toad gestured frantically towards what Fox guessed was a trapdoor. Whatever had been over it was probably burned or blown away. He switched off the microphone aspect of his headset.

"Let's go in," he said, removing his blaster from its holster and seeing the others do the same.

Slippy opened the trapdoor and motioned to Fox, who promptly climbed down the ladder.

There was nothing that wanted to kill him at the bottom, so he put away his blaster and motioned for his teammates to follow. They dropped one by one onto the ground.

"Fox," said Falco, "this doesn't really look like a shelter."

Fox looked around, seeing something similar to what the bridge looked like on the Great Fox. "Yeah... It looks more like a command center." He let out a dejected sigh. "There's nobody down here, though... Peppy, _what are you doing?_"

The hare in question was tampering with one of the consoles. "Fox, do you have any idea how lucky we are?"

"No," Fox said. "I guess I don't. What are you doing?" he asked again.

Peppy was grinning. "Every base that has lots of weapons too powerful for normal people to own has to keep cameras recording everything."

"You mean... There's footage of the attack?"

"Yes! It looks like one of the cameras lasted through most of the battle."

"Well... What are you waiting for? Play it!" he said, walking over to watch.

Peppy tampered with the console for a few more moments, before the monitor flashed white, then showed a scene of Orrin before the attack. Fox heard the others shift closer for a better view.

After a few moments of bustling morning activity from in the base, a few enemy fighters appeared onscreen, firing on the base, only to be shot down by Orrin fighters which came up shortly afterward. They didn't seem to be doing much damage.

More and more fighters appeared on the screen, until it was swarming with jets and lasers. The only way Fox could tell enemy from ally was by watching for the distinctive colors of the Fortuna Defense Force fighters. Some of the assorted ships were red, some were blue, and some were strange mixtures of colors. It didn't look like a military strike force, for sure.

Abruptly, one of the fighters in a red-and-black ship swooped closer and shot a charged blast near the camera, taking it offline.

"Well, _that _was helpful," said Falco. Peppy looked offended.

"Hey, at least we know it wasn't a military strike," Fox said. "Did you see how their ships were?"

"I'd rather fight against a country than fight someone with enough money to hire that many mercenaries," Falco retorted.

Maybe he had a point: mercenaries weren't cheap. But then... "What if it was a revolt?" he said. "Didn't they just pass some new laws on-"

"They were mercenaries, Fox," said Slippy, his voice still quiet and agitated.

Fox glanced over at the toad. He looked scared. "How do you know... and what's wrong with you? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Peppy," Slippy said, "_move_." It was a command. It sounded so... _strange _coming from Slippy.

Fox saw Peppy shoot him a questioning look; he just shrugged in response.

Slippy took the hare's place at the console, and began tampering with the video. He froze it on an image right before the camera cut off, showing the fighter that destroyed the camera.

"Do any of you see it," Slippy asked, "or am I crazy?"

Fox squinted at the image, unable to see anything special about the scene. "I don't think so," he said, not entirely sure which question he was answering.

"Nope," said Peppy.

"It's just a fight," said Falco.

Slippy pointed at the black-and-red ship. It looked pretty high-tech... and pretty familiar.

"That's the one that took out the camera... so what?" Falco said.

"Looks expensive," Peppy said. "Probably a merc."

"Slippy," Fox said, a little unsettled, "who's flying that thing?" It couldn't be...

Slippy tampered with the console again, and the image zoomed in to better show the pilot's face...

Fox gasped, then looked away from the screen, anger welling up inside. The others were speaking, but he couldn't comprehend the words, only hear the noise.

It was _him. _It was _Wolf_. Fox thought he had seen the last of the savage and his ilk at Venom.

There must be hundreds dead, he thought, and Wolf was to blame. Falco was right: Wolf had to pay for something as horrible as this. They had to hunt him down.

Pain erupted in Fox's right hand, and to his chagrin, he realized that he had just punched the panel in front of him; the sharp metal had pierced his skin and a steady trickle of blood was matting his fur.

"Uhh..." he started.

"Fox!" Slippy said, "You-"

"I know," Fox interrupted, the anger slightly subsiding to the pain, "I'll... It's nothing."

"You should probably get that treated," Peppy said.

"I'm _fine_," said Fox.

"Fox, do it," Falco said. "You look like you need to cool off anyways."

Fox couldn't tell if the horrible pun was intended or not, but actually, the bird had a point; a walk would be nice. "Alright, fine," he said, "I'll be right back. You guys see if you can find anyone else we know."

* * *

Fox leaned into the cockpit of the Arwing, digging under his seat for the medical kit. He yanked it out and fidgeted with its contents nervously. By the gods, he thought, that beeping sound was _annoying_. It took him a while to draw out the antiseptic pads, no doubt due to that...

Fox froze, dropping the pads and the kit, its contents spattering through the cockpit. He knew that sound: it was the sound he had so wanted to hear only an hour or so earlier.

He jumped into the Arwing and closed himself in, switching on his microphone in the process. "Guys, I've got a distress signal coming from the east."

There was a slight pause, during which Fox readied the aircraft for takeoff, his cut no longer important. "A survivor? We're coming, wait for us!" Peppy said, just as Fox left the ground.

"Too late, I'm already gone. You guys look around some more. If there's one survivor, there's gotta be more somewhere," he said. "Oh, and Slippy, bring the Great Fox to the base. We might need the med bay."

"But Fox-" said Slippy

"That's an order! Fox out," he said, switching off his microphone, more for effect than out of need.

He set the Arwing on autopilot to his destination. He figured he might as well tend to his wound while he had nothing else to do, but the trembling of his fingers made it difficult. The success of their mission and ultimately the integrity of the Lylat system's military forces depended on his ability to save a single witness who was probably already almost dead. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

Fox finally managed to apply the pad to the cut and winced as pain shot through him anew. After a moment of agony, he put discarded the used pad and put the rest away, shoving the medical kit underneath his seat. He switched the autopilot off and began to maneuver the ship manually.

Deja vu washed over him as he saw an intimidating plume of smoke rise from the horizon. He sighed and hoped things would turn out well for the second time that day.

He landed his Arwing next to pile of smoldering debris that he guessed _could_ have once been a ship. Drawing his blaster, he stepped out: if it was a ship, it could be an enemy ship, which could be dangerous.

He walked around the ship, blaster first, and froze, his fur standing up on end as he saw who the "survivor" was. Instinctively, he ducked back behind the ruined ship, his breathing quickening rapidly.

Fox couldn't think of any possible way for the situation to occur, so he decided that it must be a trap; the ship was ruined to the point where it could have been an Arwing or a piece of junk and still looked the same presently. Covering his back with the ruined ship, he held his blaster ready and waited for the sounds that would signal an ambush to reach his ears.

Yet, they did not. Minutes dragged by, and Fox heard no sounds save those of nature. Feeling confident, he crept around so he could see the body...

...and set the sight of his blaster on the dismembered body of Wolf O'Donnell. Fox could tell by the subtle movements of Wolf's chest that he was still alive. It would be so easy—all it would take was a slight twitch of his index finger, and his biggest problem would be gone.

But _was_ Wolf his biggest problem? Of course he was, thought Fox. He had to be: there was nobody else as outright evil still alive... was there? Fox found that he was unable to answer that question.

Time seemed to stand still. He held that tableau for many long seconds, contemplating such a simple motion that would have such an enormous effect. He could feel the trembling in his hands; he wanted to pull the trigger, he truly wanted to, but he just... _couldn't_. Letting out a sigh, he lowered his blaster.

Immediately, he felt tension pull out of his body as if a great burden had just been lifted from his shoulders. Reaching up to his head, he switched on his microphone.

"Guys, I want you to get here ASAP. Bring the Great Fox, Slippy."

There was a brief pause before anyone responded.

"On my way," said Falco.

"Coming," said Slippy.

"Me too," said Peppy. "Did you find a survivor, Fox?"

"Well... yeah," replied Fox, biting his lip. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this. "There's a problem though."

"What is it?" Peppy said.

"The survivor... Well, it's Wolf."

There was no response to his last comment. Fox figured they must think he was insane, and honestly, he didn't blame them. Maybe he was a bit crazy.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4: Compromise

**Author's Note**: Sorry for the delay on getting this chapter up, but I come with bad news: I have three essays due next week, so, I might not have time to write any until they're all done. Of course, I'm a slacker, so I might write some anyway.

**Edit**: This is just a slightly updated version of chapter IV which I think reads a bit smoother than the previous one. There's no real new content, just some revisions for clarification, so it's really not worth the reread if you've already read the chapter IV that preceded this one (not like that ever stops anyone). Looking back at some earlier chapters, I can see some pretty atrocious things that I might want to fix, but I won't be rewording things as much as I have with this one.

Thanks to DarKxKunoichi for pointing out some issues that needed to be fixed in this update.

**Edit(2)**: Fixed some grammatical errors and awkward lines.

* * *

Fox watched as the rest of his teammates loaded the body onto a stretcher. From what he could tell, Wolf was extremely lucky to be alive; he had fractured both of his legs and suffered serious trauma to the head. Slippy had said that it would take some time time for him to regain consciousness.

When he did, he had a lot of explaining to do.

Fox saw Falco detach himself from the group and walk towards him. He knew what was coming, but he didn't quite know how to respond.

"Fox, why are we helping him? He just blew the place up!"

The exact same question had been nagging at Fox for quite some time. He started to say that it was unfair to leave him there to die, then he realized that some good could come from the situation. "He might know something about the attack. Besides, it's better for him to rot in jail than just die here," he said.

"Yeah." Falco chuckled. "That'd be getting off kind of easy for what he's done..."

Slippy and Peppy had now finished loading the body onto the stretcher, and were now moving it to the Great Fox. Fox yawned.

"Tired already?" Falco asked.

In all honesty, his eyelids were getting a bit heavy. "I guess so," he admitted. "I'm gonna go get some rest. Get me up when Wolf wakes up, all right? I've got some _questions _to ask him."

"Okay," Falco said. "Want us to go ahead back to Corneria?"

Fox shook his head. "No. You don't know what we'll find out. Our enemies might have a headquarters around here. I'd rather stay here just in case than have to come back later, you know?"

"I guess."

"Well, I'm going to go ahead to bed..."

"See ya later," Falco said, his voice fading as Fox to the ship.

It didn't take long to reach his room, and once he got there, sleep came instantaneously. He dreamed of a one-eyed phantom hounding him endlessly.

* * *

A loud pounding at his door, followed by Falco's loud yell of "Fox, wake up!" awoke him. He slowly left the bed, not quite wanting to leave its comfort, but at the same time wanting to get answers from Wolf.

After taking a moment to dress himself properly, he went over to the door and pried it open, revealing Falco, who was holding a cup in his hands.

"For me?" Fox asked.

"Yeah," Falco said, handing the cup over to Fox, who gulped it down eagerly. It was loaded with caffeine, he could tell. "Come on, I'll show you the way."

As Fox sipped on the rather bitter drink and followed Falco through the corridors, he felt some of the lassitude associated with sleep begin to slip away. By the time the bird stopped in front of him, he had finished the drink and felt fully alert.

"He's in here?" he asked, gesturing towards the door.

"Yeah."

"Has anyone else talked to him or anything?"

"Nope. He probably doesn't even know where he is. I'll bet he's going to be surprised to see you."

"Ugh," Fox said, making an exaggerated face, "that's going to be fun."

"Just try not to kill him," Falco said, "I want to see him suffer in prison."

"Alright.. I'll try. Can't make any promises, though." He handed the empty cup to Falco.

Fox noted the number on the door before opening it and stepping in. Wolf was lying on the bed, which was to be expected with his injuries. He was also asleep, judging from the single shut eyelid.

He still looked as evil as ever.

Fox cleared his throat. "I see you haven't changed."

The eyelid flickered slightly, then snapped fully open. "You..." he said, weak, but defiant nonetheless.

"Yeah, it's me, _pal_," Fox said. "You have a lot of explaining to do. If you'll tell me what I need to know, I _might_ convince Pepper to reduce your time in prison." His voice sounded malicious, spiteful, villainous... he liked the thought of it being directed to Wolf.

Wolf's jaw dropped, and his chin quivered. "You... _fiend_. I... didn't know you were so... evil."

Fury welled up inside Fox. "Evil? _Evil?_ I saved your pathetic life, and I'm offering to help you even more! You should be thankful!"

"Saved me?" Wolf scoffed, "I'd rather be dead right now."

Fox blinked in surprise. He didn't know why Wolf hated him so much, though he had reasons of his own for hating the lupine. He sighed; as much as he enjoyed it, this heated exchange of insults wouldn't get him anywhere.

"All right... enough. Just tell me who you're working for, then. If you answer my questions, I'll be happy to grant your wish."

Wolf just stared at him. "This has got to be a joke," he said.

"A joke? I'm serious. Now, tell me who you're working for! Is it Andross again?"

For a moment, Fox thought his eyes must be failing him, because the next look that Wolf threw him was one that looked deeply offended, as if he had just been insulted. Yet, when Wolf next spoke, the anger was drained from his voice and replaced by something Fox couldn't quite understand.

"I will _never_ work with Andross again, pup. I think..." Wolf's voice faltered, and he looked introspective for a moment. "I think we have a misunderstanding."

"Why?" Fox asked. He was a bit curious now, but still, was Wolf trying to blame the loss of hundreds of lives on a _misunderstanding_?

"Because," Wolf started, "I was hired by General Loras of the Fortuna Defense Force to take out a rebel base. They didn't like the new citizenship policy."

Fox was dumbstruck. He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak, to say _something_, then closed it. He repeated the process several times before getting out a coherent sound. "You liar."

"Why would I lie?"

"Umm... to not get jailed?"

Wolf looked as if he had just been hit in the face. "Oh."

"Even if you weren't lying, nothing would make sense! What would we do?"

"I don't know, but I'm not lying."

Fox sighed. "Fine, I'll go report this to Pepper," he said, turning to walk out..

"No!" Wolf's voice stopped him. "Don't say anything to Pepper—he might be involved."

"Now you say Pepper's the bad guy? And you aren't? I'm not falling for that. Since when do you care about people's lives, anyway?"

"I always have," said Wolf. "You _have _to trust me... please?"

Fox froze. 'Please?' It was unexpected, to say the least. For some unfathomable reason, he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to trust Wolf. He wasn't sure if it was the tone of Wolf's voice, or just the words he used, but Fox felt it. After a moment of contemplation, he decided that while it might not be a good idea to completely trust the lupine, no harm could come from listening to him. Besides, he had an idea—the situation might work out to his benefit after all.

"Alright," he started, "I'll listen... but you'll have to listen to my side too."

Wolf raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'll tell you everything I know, then you tell me everything you know, and we'll compare stories. If you're lying, then you won't get anything from this," he said, more thinking aloud than really speaking to Wolf. "But if you aren't lying, then we can fix whatever's going on.." He trailed off. He knew exactly what he had to do, although he didn't like it the least bit.

"Look," Fox said a bit uncertainly, "I know we've fought each other in the past, but maybe, just this once, we can work together and something good can come out of it." He hesitantly extended his paw. "Do we have a deal?"

There was a moment of silence as his words sunk in, and Fox could feel Wolf's eyes—a deep purple, he noticed—probing him, as if searching for a trap. "All right," Wolf said, sounding somewhat reluctant. "But I'm tired and hurt and I'd really like some sleep first."

Fox nodded. "We'll start in the morning, then... whenever that is."

Looking a bit unsure, Wolf slowly extended his paw, and Fox grasped it, feeling a bit uneasy himself. It was a bit strange to be in such close contact with someone that he knew as his arch-enemy, but somehow, the contact was... pleasant.

Pleasant? The feeling came as a shock to him. It wasn't right for him to think like that about his enemy, was it? Then again, was Wolf his enemy anymore?

Just more questions; more questions that he wasn't able to answer.

"Get some shut-eye, then," Fox said, "and don't try anything stupid. We'll be watching," he added, despite knowing it was an empty threat.

* * *

Having just woken up after a period of rest, and having recently consumed a rather invigorating drink, Fox found himself unable to even contemplate sleep. Instead, he decided to head down to the commons area. Playing billiards with himself was a good way to burn some time.

When the hydraulic door opened in front of him, he was a bit surprised to spot a figure lounging on one of the couches.

"Slippy?" he asked. "What are you doing up so late?"

The toad shrugged. "I can't sleep. I guess I'm not that tired. What about you?"

"Well, I just woke up... and I just got finished talking to Wolf."

Slippy's eyes widened. "What'd he say?"

"I'll... tell you guys tomorrow. Want to play some 8-ball, you know, to pass the time?"

"Alright. I guess I can wait until tomorrow," he said, sounding a little disappointed.

Slippy broke, and then they fell into their usual routine of alternate turns. He saw that Slippy shot in the 13, so he figured he was stuck with solids.

When about a fourth of the balls were sunk, Slippy called out to him. "Fox?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Why do you always shoot at the purple ball?"

Fox hadn't noticed it before, but now that he thought about it, he did always aim for the number four. "I don't know," he said offhandedly, deliberately aiming his next shot away from said ball.

The game continued on uneventfully, the only sounds being the clatter of sticks and billiards as they clumsily bounded around the table. Fox began to feel the effects of the caffeine to wear off as he mentally went over what he would say tomorrow to Wolf, managing in the process to come up with some completely crazy ideas of what the lupine would say. He mentally warned himself that he needed to calm down, and he tried to blame his thoughts on fatigue.

"I win!" Slippy's voice startled him.

"Huh?" He looked up to see a rather giddy toad.

"I just won." Sure enough, he had sank all of the stripes and the 8-ball, but his expression was beginning to lapse into one of concern and gravity. "Fox, is something wrong?"

"Why do you ask?" he said in an attempt to stall Slippy.

"You know why. I never win at this, and you've gotten only one."

Fox frowned and tried to think of a believable excuse. "I guess... I'm just thinking about tomorrow," he said. It wasn't a complete lie, after all.

To Fox's relief, Slippy looked as if he believed him. "Yeah, I can't blame you, and I don't even know everything you do."

"You'll just have to wait to tomorrow like everyone else," Fox said, smiling at Slippy's persistence as he put his stick back in its place. "I'm going to head to bed. I'm getting a bit tired, and I want to get up early tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll stay down here for a while, I guess. I'm not sleepy. 'Night, Fox."

"'Night, Slippy."

Tired and immersed in thought, Fox dragged himself back to his room, and once there, stumbled gracelessly into his bed. After long minutes of images dancing on his retinas, he finally passed into sleep.

That night, he dreamed of the one-eyed phantom again, but it was different: this time, he was the one doing the chasing.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5: Raconteur

**Author's Note: **Sorry again for the delay and the length (or lack thereof). I'm not sure about how long the next chapter will take, because I have exams coming up. The good news is that after those, school's out. Like with the previous chapter, edits may come to this later on; this was both fun and _very_ difficult to write for some reason. That difficult probably means there's a lot of errors that I just can't find. Please point them out if you find any.

There is _another _update over in chapter four. Again, it's not worth the reread, but I just figured it would be best to let the readers know about it.

* * *

"You did _what_?" Falco's voice shattered the eerie silence.

"Hey," Fox said after swallowing a mouthful of biscuit, "all I did was agree to listen to him, and I only did that because we're pretty much clueless. We need all the help we can get." His confession was going about as well as he thought it would; it had ruined a perfectly fine breakfast. He honestly couldn't see what the big deal was—he had agreed to listen, so what?

"Yeah," said Slippy, "but it seems a bit drastic. You really think we shouldn't talk to Pepper?"

Fox nodded.

"Why?" Falco asked.

"Because," Fox started, "he might-"

"Not that," Falco interrupted. "You're trusting _him_ more than you're trusting Pepper. I think that's a bit screwed up."

"Pepper might be part of a conspiracy. I'm not saying I believe it, but I think it's not worth the risk contacting him."

"Do you actually think Wolf will tell you what you need to know? Or that he's actually on our side? He's probably still working for Andross, spying on us."

This was starting to annoy Fox. "Let me make something clear," he said, "I didn't say I was going to trust him, and I didn't say that I've forgiven him for what he's done. I said I'd listen. That's _all._"

"But he's a criminal," said Falco. "He killed all those people! He deserves to rot in jail, not be _listened _to."

Only Falco could be so stubborn. Fox sent what he thought was a pleading glance over to Peppy. To his relief, the hare seemed to understand. After swallowing and setting his fork down, he said, "There's a reason Fox is our leader. Maybe you should trust the little guy." Fox winced.

"Besides," Peppy added in a lighter tone, "if Wolf isn't working against us, then we have an advantage."

Falco didn't look satisfied, but he dropped the topic regardless. Fox mouthed the word "thanks" to Peppy. He winked in response.

When everyone had finished their meals, Fox announced that he was going to go talk to Wolf again, expecting—and receiving—a disapproving glare from Falco.

The others were already out when he began making his way to the door, and in the process of doing so, a sudden thought made him pause, then turn around.

Moments later, he was again on his way out of the galley, this time armed with a well-stocked tray.

* * *

As Fox drew closer to Wolf's room, he began to feel a bit nervous. He tried to push the feeling to the back of his mind.

He inched the door open, trying to be as quiet as possible. Wolf must have heard, because he stirred and glanced over towards Fox. The vulpine tried to force out a greeting smile as he opened the door the rest of the way and approached Wolf with the tray.

"Here," said Fox, holding out the tray to Wolf. He didn't move. "Take it. It's not poisoned."

Wolf regarded the tray only a few moments longer before reaching out to grasp it and bring it over. Fox had to hold back a snicker as Wolf carefully bit into one of the biscuits and sampled the oatmeal. The lupine seemed to eventually get the impression that the food was safe, and began eating it greedily.

Fox didn't realize he was staring until Wolf stopped and glared pointedly at him. He looked away, feeling his ears fall in a blush. "Sorry," he mumbled, not entirely sure if Wolf could hear him.

He tried to avert his gaze from Wolf as the lupine ate his meal. When he finished, Fox took the tray and set it on the nightstand next to the bed, then pulled one of the chairs in the room to the bedside—trying not to get too close—and sat. "So," he started, "you go first."

"Go first?" Wolf asked.

Fox nodded. "Remember what we talked about yesterday? I want you to start from the beginning and tell me _everything_."

Wolf frowned. "So that you can use what I say to put me in jail?"

"No. We went over this yesterday, remember? I want to figure out what's going on, and I have to hear your side of the story to do that. I don't like this any more than you do, you know."

Wolf looked conflicted for a moment before saying, "Fine. Now, tell me where the 'beginning' is."

"When you got your orders."

Wolf groaned. "All right... I was looking for work, and I saw that the General wanted help dealing with some rebels, and he was paying a lot. It seemed like the perfect opportunity; I could work to help the people and make money while doing it. We've destroyed two bases so far, one in Katina and one in Fortuna. Is that all you need to know?"

Wolf, work to help the people? The idea was preposterous, and yet from the tone of his voice, Fox felt inclined to believe the lupine. That wasn't the most important thing he had said though. "What was the name of the other base?" Fox asked.

There was a hesitation. "I... think it's... Alcis."

He nodded. "Okay... We'll have to investigate that... Err, are you sure Loras was telling the truth about the bases being rebellious?"

"I never thought about it. I guess he could've been lying..." Wolf trailed off, then muttered a curse.

"Huh?"

"It's just... if he was lying, this'll be the second time I've been tricked into playing the bad guy. Makes me _angry_..."

Fox blinked. "Are you saying Andross tricked you?"

Now it was Wolf who looked bewildered. "Yes... Do you think I became the slave of a mad scientist by choice?"

"I don't know you, so I can't say. You mind explaining?"

Wolf grunted. "Why do you care?"

That was a good question. "I don't know. I'm just curious, I guess. Besides, I can't really trust you until I know."

Wolf paused. "I'm not sure if..."

"Go ahead."

Fox saw Wolf's eyes dart over and probe him. "Okay," Wolf said. "But... this is kind of embarrassing."

"I don't mind. I won't tell anyone."

Wolf sighed. "All right. Some time after I became a mercenary, Andross found me. Back then, he was a famous scientist with a great reputation. Plus, he paid very well and had a great vision. He had views about how a perfect society could be created, but he said that the Lylat government wouldn't listen to him because the people in high offices wouldn't make as much money in his world. 'Greedy bastards,' he called them. Plus, err," he hesitated, "I sort of... saw you as a rival back then, and I thought it would be a good challenge to go against you." Fox found himself blushing. "It really seemed like..."

"The perfect opportunity," Fox finished.

"Yeah..." Wolf paused again. "My memory isn't really clear from then on. I remember joining with Andrew, Pigma, and Leon to create Star Wolf. And I remember you blowing up my ship a couple of times."

"Hey, you deserved that."

Wolf lowered his gaze. "Yeah... I guess I did. But I wasn't acting of my own free will! Andross had some kind of... some kind of mind control. I think even if I had known his plans, I still wouldn't have been able to resist him."

Fox waited to hear more, but he realized that Wolf wasn't going to say anything else—about Andross, at least. He decided to change the subject.

"What happened to Star Wolf?" he asked.

"Disbanded."

"You've been flying solo since?"

"Mostly. Sometimes I got paired up with others. I even ran into Leon once. Honestly, I tried to get out of the whole mercenary business after the Lylat War, but, it turns out I'm not much good at anything else."

Fox squinted. There was one thing he couldn't figure out. "You seem like you're telling the truth..."

"I am." Wolf said.

"But why?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you being so honest? Is there some sort of trap hidden for me?"

"No." Wolf looked away. "This is going to sound corny, but the thing is, I don't really know why. I just feel like... I don't know, that I can trust you, and that telling you the truth is a good idea."

Funny, thought Fox. It was the same feeling that he had the previous day. He found himself smiling. "All right then, that's all the questions I have—for now at least. I guess it's my turn."

And so he began to tell his story, starting with the mission to Aquas. He tried to speak as honestly as he could, since Wolf seemed to have given him that honor, and he found himself unwinding and enjoying it in the process.

"...and when we landed near Orrin, we—" A noise distracted him and made him glance down at Wolf.

He identified the noise as a gentle snoring when he saw the covers around Wolf's chest periodically rising and falling. Mixed emotions flooded through Fox: he felt slightly annoyed because Wolf had fallen asleep during his story, he felt slightly disappointed because he wouldn't be able to finish his story, but most of all, he felt bad for thinking that the lupine looked evil the previous day. Now that he was truly sleeping, and not just half-unconscious, he looked quite different. He looked peaceful, and—despite his matted, ruffled fur—a bit handsome. It made him stop and think: should someone like this really be his enemy?

_No,_ thought Fox. _This isn't someone we should be fighting._ Underneath the tough shell Wolf tried to hide himself in, he was just as much a person as anyone.

But getting under that shell was going to be tough.

Trying not to disturb Wolf, Fox rose and tiptoed over to pick up the tray, then turned to exit, still wondering if it was boredom from his story or just simple exhaustion that caused Wolf to doze off.

He hoped it was the latter.


	6. Chapter 6: Warning

Jaslazul boasts about adding Star Fox: Command to his list of played games.

...I couldn't help but find it suspicious how Wolf said he was disappointed in Fox for still having feelings for Krystal. I want to play Assault next, but Gamecube games are pretty much extinct. ;(

Anyways, on to the story.

**Author's Note:** I have exams next week! After those are over, hopefully I'll have more time to devote to writing. I'm really looking forward to finishing this (not because I'm tired of it, just because I want to finish something for once in my life). By the way, for those who haven't noticed yet, information about the progress of chapters can be found on my profile. I anticipate the next one will take quite a bit of time to write—it's going to be a monster, though not in length.

Also, I might be updating this later on. I just _had_ to get this posted before I left for an overnight trip.

**Edit:** **Oops, some of the content of this chapter was cut off from the previous posting. I will post it here now.**

* * *

With a triumphant grin, Fox sank the 8-ball. "Hah! Looks like you're slipping up, Falco."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said the bird. "You got lucky. Bet you can't do it again. Rematch?"

"Hey!" Slippy interjected. "That's not fair. It's my turn."

"Fine," said Falco, passing his stick on to the toad.

So far, the games were a nice distraction. Admittedly, he was looking forward to talking to Wolf again, but he resisted the urge to visit for two reasons: one of which he had just beaten in a game of pool, and the other was the lupine's need of rest.

"So Fox, did you talk to Wolf any more?" Falco asked.

Fox cringed. "Yeah."

"What did he say?"

He took his turn, using it as time to think on exactly how much to tell the bird. "There's a base in Katina that they attacked that we're going to have to investigate. I'll tell you the rest at lunch so Peppy can hear it too."

"They destroyed _another_ base?" Falco asked.

"Yeah."

"Pepper didn't tell us that," Slippy said.

"I know."

"Hey," Falco said, "don't get any ideas. He probably... err... just didn't think it was important or something."

Or something.

"You're probably right," Slippy said. "I mean, he's not supposed to give us the whole story. He just tells us what to do, and we do it."

And that was exactly the problem. That was how it always had been for them, cases of "do what I say and I'll pay you." Having to think about something besides combat was completely different; Fox wasn't sure he liked the change.

"Whatever," he said. "We'll find out the truth eventually."

"But what do _you_ think?" Falco asked.

Fox shrugged. "I really don't know. Mysteries aren't my forte."

Falco laughed. "You can say that again."

"Oh, speaking of Wolf, I did a checkup earlier this morning..." said Slippy.

"And?" Fox asked.

"He's doing pretty well. He should be able to get on his feet again tomorrow if he keeps on like he is."

"Cool," Fox said, relieved that Slippy didn't say something derogatory. He noticed Falco raise an eyebrow.

"Hey," said Slippy, "it's your turn."

"Oh." He mentally scolded himself for being so easily distracted and tried to focus harder on the game. He wasn't going to lose to Slippy again. Of course, that didn't stop him from glancing at the clock every few minutes, as if doing so would speed its progress. At last, the clock showed a time close enough to noon that he felt he could call off the games for a lunch break.

* * *

Fox entered the galley with Falco and Slippy at his side. He fixed his lunch before sitting at the round table that dominated the room. Falco and Slippy soon joined him, but Peppy's usual spot remained vacant.

"Peppy's late," he noted aloud. "Again."

"He lost track of time I guess," said Slippy.

"Nah, he's probably just busy right now," said Falco. "He's always here for lunch."

Fox shrugged, and began to eat. He couldn't decide if he wanted to eat quickly to go see Wolf again or if he wanted to eat it slowly to try to catch Peppy. When he was about to settle for the former, the doors opened and Peppy stepped through.

"Hey," he said.

"Peppy! Where ya been?" asked Fox.

"Hold on, jeez. Let me get my food first," the hare said. Fox tapped his foot impatiently as Peppy ever-so-slowly got got his food and sat. "Alright," he said, "Sorry I'm late, I've been in Wolf's room for the last thirty minutes or so. "

"But Wolf was asleep," Fox blurted out. "Did you wake..." he trailed off.

Peppy looked surprised, and from the corner of his eyes, Fox could see Falco giving him another one of his looks. "Err, yeah, I woke him up," the hare said. "Is that bad?"

"No, just... Er, nevermind, go ahead. What were you saying?"

Peppy had a cup to his muzzle, and it took a moment for him to finish drinking and set it down. "Uhh... I wasn't about to say anything, Fox. I've been in Wolf's room. That's it."

"Oh," said Fox, embarrassed. "Okay."

"So, what do you think about him?" Slippy asked. "Do you think he's changed?" Fox turned to Peppy to hear his response.

"I can't say for sure, but I think so," Peppy said, looking away from Slippy. "He seems innocent enough, at least. I'm not sure if I believe everything he's said, but I think he's at least on our side." Fox couldn't help feeling that the hare must not be telling them everything.

"Now he's gotten you, too?" Falco asked.

"Maybe you should talk to him, Falco," Slippy said. "You're the only one who hasn't, and you're the only one who still has doubts."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't want to get within ten feet of that guy."

It was probably for the best.

"So, Fox, are you going to tell us about this morning" asked Slippy.

"Yeah... sure." He had been hoping nobody would ask. He launched into a quick summary of his earlier conversation with Wolf, skipping over the more personal parts. When he got to the part about the lupine's reasons for working for Andross, Falco let out a snort. He tried his best to ignore it and continue on. He finished his account many long minutes later. To him, it seemed like hours.

"You believe that garbage?"

"Falco," he said, "I didn't ask you to believe it. I'm just telling you what he said."

"I believe it," said Slippy. "I think there's nothing wrong with his story."

Fox looked over to Peppy, but the hare didn't say anything.

"We'll see," said Falco.

It wasn't worth the effort to argue. Fox focused on finishing his lunch. Falco and Slippy finished first and started out. He finished shortly afterwards, prepared a tray for Wolf, and was on his way out when Peppy's voice stopped him.

"Wait. Where are you going? To Wolf's room?"

"Err... yeah."

"Can I go with you?"

It was weird for Peppy to ask something like that. He must have had a reason. "Why?"

"I need to talk to you."

"About what?" he asked, not sure if he liked the hare's tone.

"Well... about Wolf."

Fox's curiosity surpassed his caution, and it got the better of him. "Sure."

"Alright," said Peppy as they left the galley and began the trek to Wolf's room. "What do you think of him?"

"I think he's been honest with us. I mean, sure, there might be parts of his story he's unsure about, but that doesn't mean he's not saying what he thinks is the truth." They had entered the lift now.

"You're avoiding the question," Peppy said.

"What do you mean?"

"I asked you what you thought of _him_, not what you thought of his story."

Fox's mind went blank and he almost dropped the tray. He thought about it for a minute, during which the lift chimed and opened. They stepped out and began moving in the direction of Wolf's room.

"Well," he started, "I think he's a good person, at least. I found that when we were talking before, it was like... kind of like I had to remind myself that I was supposed to hate him; that he's supposed to be my enemy, not my friend. That I'm not supposed to..." He caught himself.

"Not supposed to what?"

"...I...I don't know." He wasn't lying. "Why are you asking?"

"Well... When I first went in to talk to him, he acted like I wasn't there. He didn't look at me and he only spoke when I asked him something." He paused and stopped in his tracks, then spoke again in a lower voice. "But as soon as I mentioned your name, I got his full attention."

"What are you saying?" Fox stopped as well and moved closer to hear better

"What I'm saying is, Fox, be careful around him. He may act like he's changed, and I dunno, maybe he has, but I think you should still be careful."

"Why's that?"

"I can't think of any good reasons why he'd be so alert all of a sudden. At least, none that don't mean trouble. And he's so guarded that I can't understand anything from the way he acts. Andross probably hates you for stopping him, and it'd be very likely for him to send a spy to gather information about you, especially your weaknesses. If Wolf is a spy—I'm not saying he is, don't look like that—then there's not much we can do about it. "

"He is_ not _a spy for Andross," Fox said. Andross was dead, and, besides, he could think of several reasons why Wolf would be so attentive. Of course, none of them were made any sense, but few things really did. "And let me guess," he added, "you're telling just me about this because you're afraid the others would do something dangerous?" He had a particular bird in mind as he spoke.

"You got it. But listen—don't be so sure that Andross is gone for good. He may still be alive somewhere."

"Peppy, I saw him die," he said, feeling his paws tense around the tray. "I was the one who killed him, and I saw the explosion afterwards. Nobody could live through that."

"But even if Andross is gone, there are lots of others who would want you dead."

"I guess so..."

"Just be careful, okay?" said Peppy.

"Okay." Fox started to head off once again towards Wolf's room.

"Wait. One more thing..."

He stopped again, getting bit annoyed. "Yeah?"

"Ask him who shot him down if you haven't already. I want to know."

Wolf hadn't said anything about that before, but still, with those injuries... "I will," he said. "But I doubt he destroyed a ship, broke a leg, and gave himself a concussion on purpose just so he could look convincing."

"People will do a lot for money, especially mercenaries like him." Peppy said.

"Whatever." He just wanted to get away at that point. "I'll ask him. See you later." He resumed his walk.

"Bye," said Peppy. Fox heard footsteps behind him, becoming quieter and quieter. When he approached Wolf's room, he waited for them to become mute before easing the door open. The lights shred their most concentrated light on the lupine's forehead, making the elevated white stripe of fur on his forehead appear to shimmer. Unlike before, Wolf didn't have to turn to look, because he was already looking. He had been waiting.

"Hey," Fox said, bringing the tray over to Wolf.

"Hey." Wolf took the tray, which was neatly burdened by bread, a sandwich, and soup. Fox pulled a chair over, the one he had placed before having been moved, and sat down, trying not to stare. When he saw that the lupine had finished, he took the tray, set it on the nightstand, and sat again.

"Wolf," he started, "who destroyed your ship?"

Wolf shifted into what looked like a more comfortable position, folding his arms behind his head and laying on the pillow. "I don't know."

"You didn't see them? Even a glimpse?"

"There was a white-and-green ship and a blue-and-yellow ship."

"No markings?"

"None that I could see. I was lucky to see anything. I was just flying back to the starship and something shot at me. Took out my thrusters."

"Do you think that the people who shot you are with the people who hired you or against them?"

"It was the people who hired me."

"How can you be sure? They could be allies who just had the wrong ideas."

"They won't be on our side."

"Why do you say that?" Fox asked.

"The 'good guys' wouldn't want me dead. They would want me alive to get information out of me." His eyes narrowed a bit. "Kind of like you're doing..."

"No! We didn't..."

"Relax," Wolf said, waving a paw. "I never said you did. Whoever shot me wanted me to die. I survived by luck. That reminds me... are you going to finish your story?"

"Oh... I forgot. I guess so. Where did I... I mean you..." He shook his head. "What do you remember me saying last?"

"You were almost at Orrin."

"Right..."

He once again began telling his story, trying to skim over the embarrassing details such as when he accidentally cut himself, but he realized he failed when Wolf left out of a bark of laughter.

"Hey," Fox said. "It was your fault, don't laugh."

"My fault?" He laughed again. "Whatever. Go on."

"When I went out to the ship, I found a distress signal coming from your—"

"A distress signal? I didn't send one."

"But that's how I found you. You had to have."

"Or someone else had to send it out for me."

"Are you saying someone wanted to make sure you were alive after blowing up your ship and sending you into a crash?"

"I don't know. But I know that I did _not _send out a cry for help."

"If you say so... but I've got too much other stuff to worry about to worry about this."

"Fine."

He continued his story with the flight to Wolf's ship and the landing. He expected to skim over his actions there, but he found himself launching into excruciating detail.

"...at first I thought that it had to be a trap. Why else would you be there? It didn't make any sense. I hid and waited for Leon or Pigma or... _somebody _to come out and start blasting at me, but nobody did, so I decided that it had to be real. But I thought of you as my enemy, as someone who had just helped massacre a base. I locked my blaster on you, and I was going to fire, but..." He found his vocabulary failing him. "I don't know. I just couldn't. I tried, but it just wouldn't work. That's when I called the team and they came to help get you on the Great Fox."

He paused. "So far, I don't regret letting you live. Don't give me a reason to start."

"I won't," said Wolf, "And..." He paused. "I want to thank you."

Fox felt his eyes go wide. "Thank me?"

"For letting me live. I know this is going to sound corny, but I feel like you've given me another chance at life. If I can help with this, then maybe I can clear my name. Then I can start a new life."

"Maybe," Fox said. He felt awkward all of a sudden. He had been called a hero before, and expected himself to be used to it, but it was just so strange coming from Wolf. From the corner of his eye, he could see the lupine stiffly shifting in his bed. It had to have taken guts to say what he did. Fox figured a change of subject would be good for both of them.

"How are you feeling?" he heard himself ask.

"Er..." Wolf hesitated. "Alright, better than before at least... Why do you ask?"

"I didn't mean..." He stopped himself. _You can't let Wolf see you like that_, he scolded himself._ You're supposed to be strong, not someone who can't even control what he says_._"_I mean, Slippy said that you should be able to walk tomorrow."

Wolf's eyes lit up. "Great! Does that mean I can leave?"

He felt a twinge of annoyance. "Well, I can't say for sure because I don't know what the others will say, but if I had control, I'd let you free."

"Can't you just do that? After this is over, that is. I haven't done anything wrong, and if you order them not to argue, there's nothing they can do."

Fox gritted his teeth. "That's not how things work around here."

"What do you mean?"

The lupine wouldn't understand. There was no reason to try explaining. "It's just not. Besides, you're going to help us, right?"

Wolf nodded. "But after that, I'm out of here."

"Fine," Fox said, not surprised. "I'm going to set it up so that tomorrow we arrive at Alcis, and you're going to help us search it. After we clear this mess up, I'm pretty sure you, and maybe your reputation, will be free to go."

"Alright." Wolf grinned.

With those words and the lupine's smile, the sense of awkwardness returned. Fox felt himself stiffen and he began to consciously think about every movement he made, whether it was scratching an itch on his forearm, moving his right leg which had fallen asleep, or even breathing—his intake of air seemed abnormally loud. He waited for the feeling to fade like before, but it lingered on. Convinced that it was too much for him, he got up.

"You're leaving?" Wolf asked.

"Yeah." Fox stretched to get his blood flowing again. "You can't get any rest with me bugging you." He started towards the door.

"Wait!" Wolf shouted. Fox turned to look and saw that the lupine had raised a hand and extended it towards him. He was fervently blushing. "I mean..." he lowered his hand. "You're not that annoying," he said softly.

At any other time, and with any other person speaking, Fox would have laughed. But it was all he could do to feel the motion of his body as it gave a nod of its own. Peppy, his most trusted friend, had warned him about the bedridden lupine, but just then, it seemed inappropriate. What could he possibly do to cause Fox harm?

A few more minutes wouldn't hurt anybody.

But just as he was about to gather the courage to go sit down again, he noticed the expression on Wolf's face. His heart started racing. He could tell that the lupine wanted him to stay, but... "I'm sorry," he said. "I have to go."

He turned and burst through the door as quickly as possible, slamming it behind him and then gasping for breath. The strange emotions pumping through him were unlike any he had ever felt before. They weren't unpleasant, but they were frightening. Whatever Wolf had done in there... he couldn't fight that. It was out of his league.

He had just been beaten.

When his heart calmed down and the tide of emotions was stemmed, he headed for the lift. He needed to clear his head.

* * *

He spent the rest of the day as he usually would on a mission, splitting his time between the commons area and his own room, staying as far away from room number eight as possible. It wasn't that difficult—Wolf's room was in the opposite direction of the lift from Fox's room.

Dinner went pretty well. He managed to avoid questions about Wolf and dumped the duty of bringing the lupine food on Slippy.

"Why do I have to bring him food?" the toad asked when so told.

"Because I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Besides, I'm the one who always does it."

"Fine."

It was only a half lie, after all.

When everyone had finished, he announced his plans.

"Guys, I'm going to set a course for Alcis. We should be arriving tomorrow. If we can find enough evidence, we can end this mission and get on with our vacation."

Peppy grinned. "So _now_ you want a vacation?"

To that Fox didn't respond.

"Let's just hurry this up," Falco said. "I hate investigating."

"Agreed," Fox said.

He went up to the bridge after dinner and set a course for the Katina outpost. He went to bed that night hoping that the investigate of Alcis would be more successful than the one of Orrin.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7: Alcis

So, anyway, I finally got this thing finished. I wrote most of it in one day, setting a personal record for progress, heh. I hope I haven't lost any viewers because of the massive timespan between this chapter and the last one, but, there's nothing I can do about it. I managed to blow my normal schedule by writing Redemption over in the SSB section, then I had a week-and-a-half vacation and a 6-hour per day summer band program which left me completely exhausted afterward. Thanks to all you guys who are keeping with me.

I said on my profile that I was going to put this chapter up today, around this time. I'm going to do it, even though I'd rather wait, because if I don't get it up now, it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Turns out, I have to go out of town to eat and probably won't be back until late. Life sucks—it's always interrupting us antisocial people.

Another thing: I might be rewriting some earlier chapters soon. It won't be anything major, but I think that about 60 of people who click on this are driven off by the first few chapters. I reread all of it after vacation, and I literally _cringed_ at some parts.

**Author's Note**: Pretty soon, the reasons for a T rating will become apparent. There won't be anything sexual, I don't think (this is kind of writing itself), but there will be a quite a bit of violence.

You have been warned.

* * *

Harsh light from Lylat greeted him the next morning, penetrating into his room, disrupting his peaceful sleep, and dragging him back to reality. Once he had taken time to wake himself, he glanced outside to see that the ship had indeed landed on Katina. He stripped off his nightclothes and dressed himself in his usual attire, trying to fend off thoughts of the previous day. His mind had embellished the details of it to the point that it was completely ludicrous.

Had he really gone against Peppy's warning? Had he consorted with the enemy in ways he should not have? He combed his head for answers before deciding that the honest answer for both questions was a definite "no." After all, the hare didn't tell him not to talk to Wolf, just to not completely trust in him.

But despite the peculiarity of their conversation the previous day, which increased each time the scenes played over in his head, he could not deny that Wolf had some kind of effect on him. He wasn't quite sure what that effect was or what it meant, but he _was_ quite sure that Peppy wouldn't approve of it.

He had now finished dressing and felt mostly awake, but he wished that he was still in bed, for more reasons than just fatigue. It was true that Wolf was going to be able to walk today, and he was supposed to lend his assistance to the team. It was also true that the team only owned four Arwings.

Fox stopped to tie his laces before heading off to Slippy's room. When he got there, he mustered the courage to rap on the door three times in rapid succession before stepping back again. The door slid open and a rather groggy-looking toad appeared in the doorway.

"Fox?"

Fox gritted his teeth. It had seemed like such a simple plan when he went over it in his head, but now that he was here, things were different.

"Morning, Slippy." He said. He stood for a moment, trying to think of a clever, subtle approach.

"You need something?"

"Yeah," he said. After a few more moments of consideration, he realized that when all else failed, there was always the direct approach.

"Would you mind if you sat this mission out?"

Slippy inclined his head ever-so-slightly. "Why? I mean, I'll do it, but I'm just curious."

"Well... You know, Wolf's supposed to be helping us today."

Slippy kept his eyes steady and trained on Fox for a few moments, then his features drooped. "Oh. You want him to use my ship?"

He sure caught on fast. "Yeah, if that's alright with you. I could get someone else to do it, but you're the most comfortable with the Great Fox, so you could have it nearby in case we run into an emergency."

"I guess that sort of makes sense," Slippy said. Maybe it was the way he didn't look directly at Fox, or maybe it was how he drummed his fingers against the doorframe, but something about him that suggested that he believed otherwise. Had it been anyone else, Fox would be less inclined to inquire as to why, but ignoring Slippy's thoughts tended to have drawbacks more often than not.

"What's wrong?" Fox asked. "I thought you said you trusted him?"

Slippy shook his head. "No. I said I believed him. But..." He paused. "Letting him fly an Arwing? It just seems sort of..."

Fox frowned. "I know what you mean, but it's not like we really have any other choice. He has to help us."

Slippy didn't look moved. He had already agreed, but Fox knew that it was a bit unfair. It was time to take a sacrifice for the greater good.

"Hey, if it's your Arwing you're worried about, then I'll take yours and let him fly mine. Does that sound better_?" _Please, he thought_, say yes_. _This is the best I can do_.

Slippy looked away for a moment. "Yeah, that's better, if you don't mind."

Of course he minded. He was letting his arch-rival fly his freakin' ship. Was it even possible to take a greater hit to his pride?

"I don't mind," he said. "He won't do anything to hurt it. Not on purpose." This, he knew, was true.

"Alright," said Slippy. "So, breakfast?"

Fox grinned. "Yeah, sure. I'll catch up with you in a minute." He paused.

"I have to go get Wolf."

* * *

From there, the walk to room number eight was not a long one, although Fox would rather it have been otherwise. He approached the door with unease and forced his hands to grasp the doorknob, turning it just enough to allow him to edge the door open and slip in. Wolf sat on the bed, his head propped up and his eyes trained on Fox.

"Hey," Fox said, avoiding eye contact.

Wolf just kept staring. Fox looked around the room, pretending to be very interested in whatever his eyes happened to contact, waiting for the lupine to speak. When he was about to give up and say something, Wolf snorted. Fox looked over at him.

"What, no breakfast?"

It took Fox a moment to figure out exactly what the lupine meant. "Oh!" he said. "You're going to have to go to the galley today. No more breakfast in bed for you."

"What?"

"Can you walk?"

Wolf blinked. "Er... I..."

"Can you walk?" Fox repeated.

"I-I can try," Wolf said.

Fox walked over closer to the bedside. Wolf pushed the covers off himself and sat on the edge of the bed, his feet hanging down, not quite touching the floor. He looked up and his gaze met with Fox's for a fraction of a second, sending shivers through Fox's body.

Wolf shifted his weight onto his hands and lowered himself to the ground. He landed with a wince, and slowly put weight on his feet, releasing his hands and tucking them in his pockets.

"You alright?" Fox asked.

Wolf shifted his weight between his feet a few times, then said, "I'm fine. You think a broken leg can keep me off my feet?"

"Two broken legs. And a concussion," he said, wondering why he even tried. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Just follow me," Fox said. Wolf lifted one of his legs as if to take a step...

And the other leg gave out.

Instinct kicked in. Fox darted over to Wolf, locking one arm around the lupine's stomach and the other around his flailing right arm. He grunted and bent his knees as the majority of Wolf's weight collapsed against him.

"Careful," he said, not sure who was speaking to. "Just... put your arm around me, and I'll..."

Wolf did as Fox asked. "Y-yeah," Fox said, "Like that." Where there had been shivers moments earlier, now there was fire, dancing across his body. He gritted his teeth and heaved with all of his might to send Wolf sprawling back onto the bed.

Fox bent over and rested his hands on his knees, his tongue lolling out as he gasped for breath.

"Well, that was interesting," Wolf said.

Fox took a few more moments to regain his composure before responding. "I thought you said—you could walk?" he said between breaths. He looked up to behold Wolf, who appeared to be abnormally calm.

"I did," Wolf said. "I guess I was wrong." He chuckled. "And I thought you could lift more than my weight without passing out."

Fox growled. "That's the thanks I get for saving you—again?" He saw truth behind the lupine's words, though. He had done more work than that before and been fine afterwards.

"I'm definitely thankful about being saved by a weakling."

Wolf was back to his old self. Fox felt the corners of his mouth tighten. "You know, I liked you better when you were almost dead."

Now it was Wolf who growled. "Well, I'm sorry for being me, then!" The words were laced with venom.

Fox hadn't seen Wolf angry many times, and to see him react like that to such a simple remark was peculiar even to him. He sat down on the bed beside Wolf and rested his chin in his paws, trying to focus. If Wolf was unable to walk, then things became more complicated. Plus, the others were probably already waiting in the galley, wondering what was taking him so long.

Movement beside him broke him out of his reverie. Wolf had shifted his weight onto his hands again, and was about to lower himself back on the ground. "What are you doing?" Fox asked. "Are you crazy?"

Wolf lowered himself onto his feet and shifted his weight a couple of times, alternatively bringing each foot off of the ground and taking a few tiny steps. "I think I've got it now. I just can't take big steps." He paused. "If you can... er... help me a little bit, then I'll be able to make due. And eat."

Fox just stared. It was odd, but he wasn't about to complain. At least this made things slightly less complicated. He stood, feeling his joints pop, and took small steps towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Wolf asked.

"Upstairs?" he said.

"I said you have to give me a hand. I'll probably just fall again."

He almost groaned at the prospect of having to help Wolf get all the way to the galley, but then a sudden thought made him chuckle instead. "What was that?" He could feel himself grinning.

"I said, you have to help me."

"So now you want my help?" He held back his laughter.

"Yes," Wolf said, his ears going down.

"You want the _weakling's _help?"

"You want my help today or not?"

Now the laughter came flooding out. When it calmed down, he said, "Alright, fine." He walked over to Wolf, then paused at his side and tucked his hands in his pockets, unsure of how to proceed.

"Well?" Wolf said.

"Well what?"

Wolf latched an arm around Fox's shoulders and slumped against him. Fox let out an "oof." The room seemed much hotter, and breathing much more difficult. The laughter that was within him moments earlier was gone now. He glanced over at Wolf, only to see him returning the glance, and Fox looked away immediately. "Alright," he said, convinced that he was not going to let Wolf think carrying him was too much, "let's go."

* * *

Fox stumbled up to the door that led to the galley, almost tripping several times because of the way Wolf threw his weight around.

"Can you stop that?" he asked.

Wolf responded by making Fox stumble once more. "Want me to break both your legs and make you try to walk?"

Fox didn't reply. Since he was unable to open the door or knock on it because of his burden, he kicked at it a few times. Moments later, it swung open in front of him. It was about at that time that he realized how stupid he would look.

That realization was confirmed when he saw the look on Falco's face.

"Don't ask," Fox said before Falco had an opportunity to say anything.

"Whatever," Falco said, stepping aside.

As Fox entered the room, conversation in the room ceased, and he could see the faces of the three others locked on to him. He led Wolf to the closest empty chair he could find and helped him sit in it. He then went over to get two trays and pile them with food, trying his best to ignore the silence.

He sat down at the table beside Peppy and slid one tray across the table to Wolf.

"So," Peppy said, breaking the silence, "how's this going to work?" He gestured at Wolf, who was already immersed in his meal.

"He can't walk by himself," said Fox, "but I'm sure he can fly a ship, as long as someone can get him in one."

"Whose ship is he taking?"

"Mine," he said, and was rewarded by a choked cough from Wolf's direction. "Slippy's gonna sit this one out and watch from the Great Fox. I'll be using his." He looked around, and from the variety of facial expressions, he decided it would be best to change the subject.

"Anyone got any info about this place?"

Falco looked up. "I scanned around earlier. Nobody's there."

Fox nodded. He didn't expect anything different. He turned to his own food for the first time. The others talked a bit while he ate, but they didn't say anything worth responding to. When he finished, a quick look around revealed that he was the last one to finish. Wolf was sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed, a near-empty tray set before him, pushed back a bit from the edge of the table. Fox picked it up on his way to the wastebasket, and dumped the remaining contents of both of them into it. He stacked the trays on top of the three others already piled off to the side.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

Wolf shrugged, and there were nods and "yes"es from everyone else.

"Then let's go."

Chairs scraped against the tiled floor and everyone, with the exception of Wolf, stood. Most of them turned towards the door, but Falco turned towards Fox.

"Hey, Slippy," Fox said.

The toad turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"You mind getting Wolf and making sure he knows how to fly an Arwing?"

Wolf grunted. "I know how to fly a ship."

"An Arwing's different from a Wolfen."

Wolf opened his mouth as if to say something else, but Slippy beat him to it.

"I don't mind. I'll do it," he said, although the look on his face suggested that he minded very much.

"Thanks," Fox said. He turned to Falco. "What's up?" he asked in a lower voice.

There was the slightest hesitation before the bird spoke. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Huh?"

"Letting _him_ use your Arwing."

"It'll be fine," Fox said, feeling deja vu. He took a step towards the door, but Falco's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Are you sure? You know, he doesn't like you. Why didn't you just let him use Slippy's ship?"

"Slippy didn't want him to," he said.

"Then you shouldn't want him in yours. Let him use mine."

The offer surprised Fox. "I don't know, he hates you too. Just leave it, alright? I'm pretty sure he won't do anything. It's not like he could really run from us."

"Yeah, but still..." He shrugged. "It's just that, the thought of him being in an Arwing is kind of scary. We did wreck a few of his ships, you know."

Something clicked in Fox. Falco wasn't doing this because he hated Wolf, not directly at least. He was afraid of him.

"Hey," Falco said. "What was that look for?"

"Oh, nothing," Fox lied. "Just don't worry about it. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"How can you be so calm?"

Fox shrugged. "I don't know. I don't see any reason to worry."

Falco frowned. "You don't?"

Fox shook his head. "Nope."

Falco let out a resigned sigh. "You're impossible. I give up," he said, not unkindly. He turned and walked out of the room, heading in the same direction as the others. As Fox watched the bird go, something pulled at him, something that scared him.

His rival was going to pilot his ship. He could easily destroy or steal it. Fox's ship had always been his prized possession, not because it was how he made his living, but because he enjoyed it.

He remembered the days when he took his ship out alone, saying that he needed to practice, but really just enjoying himself—enjoying the rush of the g-forces, the crisp aerial figures he could cut, the beautiful scenery... just enjoying being airborne. Up there, he was not bound by gravity, the constant, crippling force that dragged him down, down to the surface, where all his problems were.

"_In the air there is only freedom."_

Someone had told him that once. He wasn't quite sure who had said it, but he had the nagging suspicion that it was Peppy. Whoever said it didn't matter though; what mattered was that it was true, and if something happened to his ship, he would lose that freedom, and quite possibly his lifestyle as well.

But despite all of that, he was not afraid, and that was what scared him the most.

_Wolf could steal it and kill you!_

He tried to force himself to believe that, but he was not successful. Wolf "could" steal it, he "could" kill someone, but he wouldn't. It was an assumption that was somehow buried so deeply in Fox's mind that, despite how much he urged himself to, he couldn't discount it.

"Am I crazy?" he whispered.

No, that couldn't be it. He couldn't prove it, but he was pretty sure he was mentally stable.

He shook his head. He was probably just making too big of a deal of out this, anyway. He walked over to the drink dispenser and got a small cup of orange juice, then chugged it down in one gulp. He crumpled the paper cup and tossed it towards the wastebasket.

Or that's what he intended to do. The wadded-up plastic cup thudded onto the floor, inches away. He shrugged—he'd deal with it later. Right now, he had much bigger problems to deal with.

* * *

The elevator door opened, revealing the docking bay in all its metal-clad glory. Peppy and Falco were chatting with each other, and Slippy was leaning into the cockpit of an open ship. Wolf was probably inside it. Fox walked over towards the ship and lightly tapped Slippy on the back, eliciting a startled yelp from the toad.

"Oh. Fox," Slippy said after he turned around. "You scared me."

He shrugged. "Sorry. How's it going?"

"It's alright. Oh, and I found an extra headset laying around, so I gave it to him."

"So he's good?" He pointed towards Wolf.

Slippy nodded. "I think so." He turned around and leaned back into the cockpit. "Think you got it?"

Fox recognized Wolf's deep voice. "Yeah. It's not that hard."

"Okay." Slippy turned back around. "I'm ready."

"Alright." He hesitated. "Can I talk to Wolf?"

Slippy raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Go ahead."

"Why don't you go see if Peppy and Falco are ready to go?"

"Alright," Slippy said. He walked away from the ship.

Fox leaned down into the cockpit of his Arwing, and saw Wolf looking up at him.

"Pretty nice ship you got here," the lupine said.

Fox nodded, trying to remember why he had said he wanted to talk to Wolf. "It is. How does it compare to a Wolfen?"

Wolf shrugged. "I haven't flown it yet. It's got most of the same stuff, but it's all in the wrong place." He shifted around, then winced. "The seat sucks."

"You get used to it," Fox said, glancing over his shoulder to the others.

They were all staring at him.

"You ready?" he asked, his head still turned.

"Whatever."

"We're about to leave now. Are you sure?"

"I guess so."

"Alright," Fox said, twisted his head back around to face the lupine. "Let's see what you know, then."

He spent a few minutes pointing to random mechanisms in the ship and asking Wolf what their functions were. There wasn't a single thing he missed—he spouted off answers that Fox knew he would have to think about. Whatever Slippy had done, it worked.

"You did pretty good," he said. "Really good, actually. I'm impressed."

"I feel _so_ special," Wolf said.

"Whatever. It's about time we got going." He stood up straight.

"Wait, what do I do?"

"Just stay there," Fox said. It wasn't like the lupine was capable of doing anything else.

Fox walked over to stand by the rest of the team, lowering his gaze to avoid the eyes locked on him as he approached. "You guys ready?" he asked.

"I'm ready," said Peppy.

"Yeah," said Falco.

Fox glanced over at Slippy, who had his eyes on the ground. "You sure you're alright with this?"

"I'm fine," Slippy said. "At least I won't have to worry about getting killed."

Falco spoke. "There won't be any—"

"I know," Slippy said. "I was joking."

Silence descended on them. For some reason, Slippy's voice kept saying over and over again in his head: _At least I won't have to worry about getting killed_. He shifted his feet.

Peppy cleared his throat. "Well then, let's go. The longer we wait, the worse off we'll be."

"Agreed," Fox said. "Let's go." He caught Falco's eye, and then Falco glanced deliberately toward the ship Wolf was taking.

"Hope for the best, Fox."

The Star Fox team scattered. Slippy broke off and moved towards the elevator, while Falco and Peppy went off toward their ships, leaving Fox standing there. He let his gaze wander across the ships, resting for a moment on his own, then continuing on to spot Slippy's. He walked towards it, that voice still echoing in his head.

* * *

Fox slammed a finger on one of the buttons around the console, trying to shut off the annoying sound of the scanners. They were detecting something, but he couldn't make sense of anything in Slippy's ship. _Of course_, he thought, _you had to make sure Wolf could fly your ship, but you never bothered to ask Slippy about his_.

He sighed in relief when he finally shut off the annoying siren. He reasoned that if it was anything important, the others would have picked it up and contacted him.

He sat back in his chair and let the autopilot do the work for him. Wolf was right, the seating in his Arwing was pretty bad; Slippy's was much more comfortable. His eye wandered the interface, scanning over system diagnostics, the still-flashing but now-mute sirens that were the scanners, and the many extra buttons and gizmos that Slippy's ship contained. He didn't know what any of them did, and really didn't want to risk trying to find out.

His eye-wandering brought him to glance at the mirror, his gaze there lingering a bit longer than necessary. Something caught his eye other than the rocky, mountainous landscape. It took him a moment to figure out what that something was. He counted the ships behind him, to reveal a shocking number: two.

"That can't be right..."

He recounted to find the same results. A bit distressed, he scanned through all of the windows and all of the mirrors, but he couldn't find any more than two ships. He looked again at the two behind him, and he let out a gasp.

His own Arwing was the missing ship.

His heart started pounding. He fumbled with the communications system, stumbling over the different, more complex technology in Slippy's ship. After a few moments, he opened a channel with Wolf, revealing the lupine on the screen before him.

He was about to yell something rather vulgar when the image caught his eye. Wolf's brow was soaked with sweat, and he was staring dead center at the screen.

"Fox!" Wolf's voice blared through the speaker.

"Wolf? Where are you, and what's wrong with you?"

"I... I..." He tried to speak several times, but failed. He looked flustered.

Impatience overtook Fox. "Well?"

"You've got to come here. Now," he said, the words coming out in a rush.

"What?"

"You have to! Now!"

Fox shifted a bit closer to the screen. "Calm down. You're not making any sense. What's going on?" He was on the edge of his seat now.

Wolf's ears dropped. "You've... You have to. It's important. Come here."

Fox gritted his teeth and said nothing, fumbling around with the scanners, trying to place Wolf's location.

"Please?"

Fox looked up, paused, and stared at the image of Wolf before him. Whatever Wolf wanted, it had to be important, and even if it wasn't, he had to go—Wolf had his ship. "Alright. I'll be right there."

Tension visibly rolled out of Wolf's body, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks," he whispered.

This caused Fox to continue staring the screen, a hand suspended in midair as it was reaching for the button to bring up a channel with Peppy.

"Hey—hey, hurry up," Wolf said.

"Oh. Right. I'm on my way. You _better_ be able to explain this."

"I will."

There was a click and a static hum as the image of Wolf disappeared and communications were broken between them. The abrupt switching off was unexpected, but Fox wasn't really surprised. He somehow knew that he would have to talk to Wolf in person to get answers.

He finished the reach with his hand and hit the button, bringing up an image of Peppy before him.

"Hey, what's up?" Peppy asked.

"I have to take a detour," Fox said.

"Huh?" The hare's head turned left and right and he squinted a bit. "Wolf''s—I mean, your Arwing is gone," he noted.

"Yeah. He wants me to come look at something. You guys go on without me, I'll be back in a few."

"Alright," Peppy said. "Be careful."

"You too."

Peppy nodded, and Fox took that as the confirmation he needed to switch off the link. He tapped a few buttons around the scanner to get Wolf's location and entered the data into the console to set the autopilot on course. It wasn't that far off, he noticed. Only about half a mile, on top of a cliff.

Moments later, the ship slowed and started descending. Wolf was on the ground, outside of Fox's Arwing, leaning on it. Fox couldn't see anything interesting enough to merit the lupine's call.

He grunted as the ship landed; it was a bit rougher than his own. He pressed the button to open the cockpit and unstrapped himself, leaping out of the ship and landing nearby.

"What's going on?" he asked, walking toward Wolf. "Why—"

The urge to continue escaped him. His question had been answered.

Wolf's breathing was heavy and labored, and his fur matted with sweat. There was something else about him, though, something that Fox paused in contemplation over.

It was his eyes. No, not the eyes themselves—they were the same as they had always been—but around them...

A faint ring of moisture encircled them.

"H-hey," Fox said, "are you hurt? You need any help? I'll—"

"I didn't mean to do it," Wolf said. His voice was so quiet that Fox had to strain to hear.

"Huh?"

The words came out in a rush. "It wasn't my fault. I never meant for it to happen." The moisture around his eyes was fresher now.

"What are you babbling about?" Fox asked.

A horrible, monstrous noise ravaged his ears. He clutched at them, trying to block out the sound. His first instinct was to run, but he suppressed it, for one reason:

The noise came from the same direction he had flown from.

He turned around, exaggerating the motion, not quite sure if he wanted to see what had caused such a horrible cacophony. When he did see it, he wished he hadn't turned. He fell to his knees, the world slipping away from him.

The horizon was red, and plagued with smoke—black smoke. Where he could have seen the faintest outline of a base before, now there was only destruction.

_At least I won't have to worry about getting killed_, Slippy's voice echoed again.

"Peppy... Falco..."

"I'm sorry," Wolf said, his voice cracking. "I..."

"They're gone."

"I didn't—"

"They're gone!" His strength return in a sudden, maddening burst, and he stood, turning to face Wolf and clenching his fists. "They're gone, and it's all your fault!"

Wolf slumped against the Arwing. "I didn't know. I—"

Fox clenched at his ears again as another sound filled the air, cutting off Wolf. But this sound was not the kind of sound that came from an explosion. No, it was a far more familiar sound—the whining drone of an engine.

The drone intensified before stopping altogether. Fox looked to his right, and he saw a ship had landed not too far off.

It was white, and trimmed with green.

Before Fox could react, the cockpit slammed open, and an all-too-familiar figure jump out of it.

Andrew.

"You!" Fox said. "What—"

He gasped as pain exploded in his chest. He grasped at the wound with both hands, then looked back at his assailant. He was holding a gun—a stun gun, from the looks of it.

Fox cursed as his legs went numb and the ground rushed up to meet him.

"...didn't know!" He could hear Wolf shouting, but he didn't care. He no longer cared about anything.

It was all gone. _They_ were all gone.

There were more voices, some of them different, but he ignored those too. His thoughts turned back to Wolf.

"I trusted you," he murmured, coughing when dirt entered his mouth.

He welcomed unconsciousness as it crept upon him, content for the moment to just be away from the world.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8: Questions

Alright, so, here's chapter 8. Those of you who keep track of my via my profile will know that I actually finished this, I think it was either the day after or two days after I posted chapter 7, but I held out on it for editing reasons.

I'm glad I did.

I think I may take some time to write Redemption chapter two before setting to work on Chapter IX. I really want to get into Redemption—I have some really great stuff in mind for it.

There's not really much to say about this chapter, so, yeah. Here it is.

As always, I may come back and touch it up a little later. If I do, I'll put a neat little note in here saying **Edit:** with what I've changed.

* * *

The advent of consciousness was not an instantaneous thing for Fox. He would feel some sense of reality returning, as if waking up from a nightmare, but then the pain would hit him, and he would fall back down into that dark state of half-sleep.

But the moment eventually came that, when brought back into painful reality, the effects of whatever drug he had been given were no longer powerful enough to bring him back under. He sat in a state of self-pity for the longest time, hoping that he would lapse back into the welcoming depths of unconsciousness, but his salvation never came.

Gods, it hurt. _Everything_ hurt.

He realized that he was laying down, his head propped up against a cold wall. Then the smell hit him: dank and putrid. He mustered the strength to lift his head and look around.

The room he was in had the look of a prison cell. It was rectangular, poorly-lit, and looked nastier than it smelled. There was another person in the room, too. Fox squinted into the darkness until he could make out the faint outline of Wolf's figure.

Upon seeing the lupine, Fox let his head fall again, and he tried to slip once more into slumber.

"Hey."

Fox pretended that he was still asleep.

"Hey!" the voice said again. Fox recognized it to be Wolf's. He tried to ignore it again, but he soon heard sounds of movement from across the room. They grew louder until they came from right beside him.

"I know you're awake," Wolf said.

Fox groaned. His instincts screamed at him to punch Wolf, to kick him, to do _something_ to make him suffer. He would have, if his muscles weren't aching. "Get away." he said, still looking away.

"Food?"

That word struck a chord within Fox. Maybe hunger was to blame for his weakness. He turned to Wolf. "I'm listening," he said.

Wolf responded by gesturing in front of him. There was a tray at his feet, similar to the ones in the Great Fox, bearing bread, some strange-looking meat, and a cup of water.

Fox glanced back and forth between Wolf and the tray.

"It's not poisoned," Wolf said.

Fox got the overwhelming impression that Wolf was mocking him, and he resisted the urge once more to do something he might regret. He reached down to the tray and lifted it off the ground, adjusting to sit cross-legged, wincing in the process. He set the tray in his lap and stared at it.

"Oh, come on," Wolf said. "I'll eat some of it for you if you want me to prove it."

Fox felt like he was being mocked again. "I'll pass," he said, reaching towards the bread. It didn't look too appealing—he thought he could make out a bit of mold—but unlike the meat, he could actually tell what it was supposed to be. He brought it up to his muzzle and nibbled on it, ignoring the bitter taste, trying to make it last.

He realized that it was gone only when he went in for another bite and almost pierced his fingers. He expected a chuckle from Wolf, but nothing came.

Fox brought the cup to his muzzle, gulped its equally bitter-tasting contents down, and slumped once more against the wall, waiting for something—anything—to happen. What seemed like hours later, the silence threatened to drive him insane.

"What do you want?" he asked in a desperate attempt to break it.

"Huh?"

He turned to face Wolf. "Don't play dumb. Why am I here? What do you want with me?"

Wolf drew his head back. "I don't know why. I'm trapped too."

"What?"

Wolf made an obscure gesture in the air with his arm. "Andrew. He's got us locked in here. Just hope he doesn't come back soon."

The sound of that name triggered something in Fox. "Andrew..."

Fox shifted again for comfort, and a lance of pain stabbed through him when he put weight where he shouldn't have. That was when his memories caught up with him:

_They_ were gone, and he was sitting next to the person who was most likely responsible.

"Why did you do it?" Fox asked.

"Do what?"

Words came flooding out. "The team. They're... Did you plan for that all along? Was everything just a setup? Is this part of it too?"

Wolf recoiled. "No! I... no. This is all monkey-face's fault. I didn't know anything."

Fox pasued for a moment, debating on whether to believe the lupine or not. "So you aren't in league with him?"

"No," Wolf said. "I told you, we lost contact a long time ago." Something about him—his tone, his averted gaze—made it seem like he had something to hide.

Fox brought his hand to his forehead. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. "So we're stuck here?"

"Yeah."

Fox ran a hand through his head fur.

"I can't believe this is happening," he said. He waited for the lupine to say something, but, again, nothing came. A quick glance over in his direction revealed that he was stirring the dust on the floor with a finger.

"Just yesterday," Fox said, hating the sound of his own voice, "everything was fine. Everyone was alive and well. And then... And then..."

"Stop whining," Wolf said, still trailing his finger in the dust. "We're stuck here, and complaining isn't going to change it."

Fox sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm—"

Fox's memory tugged at him.

Why _was_ he here? Why wasn't he dead?

Because Wolf called him.

"Why didn't you save them?" Fox asked. "Why only me? To gloat about having beaten my team? To make me suffer since I'm the last one left?"

Beside him, Wolf sighed and examined a clawtip. "No."

It was enough to Fox that Wolf had even done what he did, but now he was just avoiding the question. "No what?"

Wolf averted his gaze, turning to stare in the opposite direction. "You... You wouldn't understand. It's none of your business."

"I'm stuck here with you for gods know how long, and it's none of my business? Yeah. That makes perfect sense. I trusted you—I really did—and then you—"

Wolf locked eyes with Fox and bared his teeth, his muzzle inches away from the vulpine's own. Fox could feel the lupine's hot, intoxicating breath on him. "Shut up," Wolf said. "I said it's none of your business."

Wolf turned away once more and resumed with his finger, leaving the heavy words to linger.

Fox's eyes narrowed. He couldn't trust the lupine—not until he got an explanation—but if what he had said earlier was true, then they were stuck there together, and they probably needed that trust to survive.

But there were too many unanswered questions for him to give that trust. He glanced over at Wolf. Even if the lupine wanted to talk, he wouldn't have all of the answers—again, given that what he had said earlier was true.

He considered saying something, but every time he worked up the courage to, his mouth just wouldn't form the words. Wolf's own words had left the air cold and brittle—like ice—and Fox didn't want to risk fracturing it. They had at least worked out peace, albeit a somewhat tentative one, and splitting it, no matter how much he wanted to, was probably a bad idea.

But those questions kept nagging at him. Were they stuck? If they were, where were they? How had they gotten there? Why was he so weak? And why wasn't he any angrier with Wolf?

He pondered them for a long while, but no answers came. _Best to just wait it out_, he thought, spreading his legs and propping his head against the wall. Before long, his eyelids began to droop. He wasn't sure how long he lay there, or if he even slept, but the next thing his brain processed was the sound of a metal door being slammed open.

Fox blinked his eyes as footsteps approached him, then halted. He lifted his head to behold an intimidating figure, towering over him.

It was Andrew.

Fox let out an "oof" as something rammed his thigh, only later realizing that that "something" was a foot.

"Get up."

Fox groaned, unmoving.

"I said, get up!" The figure brought a leg back and rammed it forward again, eliciting a howl of pain from Fox.

He tried to obey the voice, to avoid being kicked again, but his strength had abandoned him.

Moments—and a few kicks—later, he was dragged by his legs, facing backwards, his muzzle scraping against the cold, hard floor. When he raised his head to avoid the scraping, he saw something that caused him to forget—if only for a moment—about the pain.

Wolf had forsaken his aloof position in the corner, and instead, he was leaning forward, on his knees, a hand extended outward in Fox's direction.

"Fox... No..."

The sound of Wolf's voice registered in his head, but it sounded so far-off, so downright _strange_ that it had to have been his imagination.

* * *

Andrew dragged Fox into a dark room that smelled of blood. Throwing his head around, the vulpine could see the stale glint of rusty metal throughout the place.

Weightlessness settled on him, and he only later realized that it was because he had been lifted off of the ground. The feeling vanished as abruptly as it appeared as he was set down again. He looked to the side and saw that Andrew's chest was level with his body.

It wasn't until Andrew fastened down his arms and legs that he realized what was going on—where he really was—and by then, it was too late to prepare himself.

Pain erupted in his body. It started in his left arm, then spread like a wildfire throughout him.

He screamed—screamed until his throat was raw and bleeding, and it didn't help. He could see the sinister grin on Andrew's face through the haze of pain and the water that had built up his eyes.

The freak was _enjoying_ this.

The waves of pain died down until he could only feel the remnants echoing through his body, as if they were reluctant to leave. He could taste blood—he had probably bitten down on something.

"Did you really think you could get off that easy?" Andrew said.

Fox gritted his teeth. His throat hurt too much to respond even if he knew what the primate was talking about.

"Well, I've got you now, and you're not getting away—you're going to stay here and watch as your world falls apart." The grin reappeared on his face. "And there won't be anything you can do to stop it."

The pain made its second appearance, and it was not any gentler. Fox tried to scream again, but the most he could manage was a horrid, grating sound. Moments later, Andrew spoke again.

"Boy, did Wolf do his job right," Andrew said. "This wouldn't have been possible without him. He's a good little puppy after all. Be sure to thank him for me."

Fox's stomach plummeted, and he felt the reflex to vomit, and he would have, if not for the pain tearing at him again.

The process repeated itself several times for what seemed like hours to Fox. The pain would die down just enough for him to think about his teammates, or to think about Wolf, and then it would start back again. He could hear Andrew's voice cutting in here and there, but he couldn't make sense of the words.

The part of the process that involved thinking was soon cut out and replaced by a period in which he lost his grip on reality. That period became longer and longer until it overlapped and completely erased the period in which the pain thrived; until all of reality became an endless void.

* * *

The pain had ebbed enough that, by the time Andrew dumped him—or threw him, rather—back into the cell, he was able to feel the resulting jolt as he landed on his muzzle.

"You're next, Wolfie-boy," Andrew's voice said behind him. The sound of the cell door rattling shut met his ears, but he wasn't able to move to see if the primate was gone. Instead, he just shut his eyes and tried to tear his thoughts away from the pain.

Fox heard a gasp from somewhere across the room, then the sound of frantic movement. He became aware of an enticing warmth beside him.

"Fox... Gods, what has he done to you?"

Wolf's voice was the same as before—far-off and _strange_, like someone else was trying to speak with his voice. Fox didn't respond—even if his physical state allowed him to, thoughts of Wolf were so distorted in his mind that he wouldn't be able to decide what to do. He contented himself with laying in the rather uncomfortable position he was in and trying to block out all thought; because thinking would mean that he would have to confront the real world, and the real world, at that moment, seemed to be against him.

Gods, how he longed for the freedom of the Arwing again.

He was so engrossed in his mental abstinence that he didn't realize Wolf had touched him until the lupine had lifted him off the ground. There was the pain again, but he blocked it out as Wolf flipped him over, then gently set Fox down on his lap. An arm encircled his back, holding him up, much like a mother might hold her baby.

The pain dissipated.

"I'm going to kill him for this," Wolf said.

Fox resisted the urge to gasp as a clawtip traced its way his neck, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. This fire was _much_ different than the wildfire he had experienced in Andrew's room.

"Poor thing..."

Fox felt a gentle caress at the back of his head, then another, then another. Fox realized that Wolf was stroking him—giving him a massage.

Time seemed to stand still, and during that time, Fox forgot. He forgot about his teammates, he forgot about Andrew, and he forgot about his pain. There was only the gentle touch of Wolf in his world, and, when coupled with the lupine's body heat, it created a pulsating sense of warmth that overwhelmed him.

The Wolf who held him, comforted him then in his time of need could not be the same person who led his teammates into a deathtrap—could he?

No, he couldn't be, Fox thought. But what Andrew had said...

Fox decided that it didn't matter. Not at this moment at least.

It could have been minutes later or hours later when his strength returned to him. He didn't want to move, lest Wolf stop, but as the immeasurable time dragged on, his joints grew stiff from disuse, and he had to stretch.

Wolf stopped the massage, his body quivering and his ears clinging to his skull.

"Fox! Uh, I—You're..." Wolf brought one hand up to scratch at his head. "How long have you been awake?"

Fox giggled. "Long enough."

"That's not funny," Wolf said, his ears still down.

"I never was asleep."

"Oh, umm..." If his ears were down before, now they were at least twice that.

Fox felt the slightest shifting around him as Wolf tensed to lift him off. "Don't worry about it," Fox said, placing a hand on the lupine's shoulder. "I don't mind. Really."

"Oh." Wolf freed his right hand, brought it up, and kept it hovering in the air for a moment as if he was unsure what to do with it.

More time passed. Fox didn't say anything when Wolf started back with the massage—neither of them did. When Fox lifted his head to look at the lupine's face moments later, he saw Wolf's own shift to avoid his gaze. Fox returned his head to its previous position, feeling like an intruder.

"So," Wolf said in that same strange-sounding tone, "what happened?"

Fox smiled at Wolf, realizing that the lupine was trying to break some of the awkwardness. "It hurt," he said. "I don't know what he did, but it hurt."

"I can see that much," Wolf said. "Did you find out anything? Like, where we are?"

Fox grimaced as some of Andrew's comments came back to him, and he tried to ignore them. Laying with Wolf felt too good—too good to think about what the primate had said. "No. He said he has us prisoner, and something about 'our world's going to fall apart'."

Wolf's eye opened wide. "What?"

"I don't know. Maybe this is revenge for Andross." He looked away. If Wolf was innocent, it would be hard to bear the thought that the lupine was going to be tortured—or killed, Fox shuddered at the thought—because of him.

But was Wolf innocent?

Fox didn't want to think about that. The lupine was all he had left.

"Hey," Wolf said, "don't look like that. You know, that frog is still alive. She'll come rescue us."

Fox resisted the urge to giggle as the now blatantly-obvious truth set in. "Hey—you know, you're right. Slippy's alive, and maybe he saved Falco and Peppy." He paused and snickered at Wolf's expression, hope and merriment rushing back into him.

"By the way, Slippy's a boy."

Wolf's eye widened. "Er... What? How's that thing _not_ a she?"

The pent-up tension that had built up inside Fox cascaded out in an uproarious fit of laughter. When it eventually subsided, Fox couldn't wipe the smile off of his face, and he couldn't keep his eyes off of the lupine.

He had to know. Now.

"Hey," he started certainly, "I have to ask you something."

Wolf raised an eyebrow, looking directly at Fox. "Yeah?"

"Can I trust you?"

Wolf looked away. "W-what do you mean?"

"I know you said it's none of my business, but... It just all seems too convenient. You led us to Alcis—into a trap. I didn't get why you saved me, and you got angry when I asked, but now it seems like I was saved just to be tortured by Andrew. He said... He said you 'played your part well'. Please, tell me it's not true."

Wolf stared off into space for a few minutes, still stroking Fox's head. "Yeah," he said. "I did play my part pretty well, didn't I?"

Fox's heart sank.

"But I didn't mean to."

"Huh?"

Wolf's gaze drifted even farther away.

"He used me. He told me he was going to get me back a long time ago, and I guess he finally did. I should've seen it coming." He let out a weak chuckle.

Fox was dumbfounded. "You're not making any sense."

"I lied to you." Fox winced at those words—they stung. "I told you Star Wolf disbanded." He paused. "We didn't. We got in a fight."

"Andrew... He kept rattling on about Andross. He wanted to hunt you down and kill you. Then Pigma started talking about 'finishing what Andross started', taking over the world and all that crap. I ditched them. They were crazy. But before I left, Andrew spoke to me. He said: 'I'm going to get you one day, when you're least expecting it, and I'm going to make you suffer'."

"Me and Leon," he continued, "we did a few missions, but we drifted apart. He started doing stuff alone, and so did I."

"So, here I am," he stopped scratching Fox's head and waved with his arm, "all alone. No team. Taking up all the jobs I can find. Trying to stay alive."

"You know," Fox said, trying to keep his voice steady, "you aren't alone anymore."

"I..." Wolf looked down at Fox. "I know." He started scratching Fox's head again. "You feeling any better?"

Fox smiled weakly up at Wolf. "A little. But you never answered my question."

Wolf sighed. "I was hoping you'd forget. It was another one of Andrew's tricks. I picked up an encoded transmission and cracked it. Said there was a bomb. I, umm..."

"Yeah?"

"After I listened to it, I scanned, and I found it. I thought you guys would find it and stop, but you kept going." Fox realized to his chagrin that he _had_ picked up the bomb, but he had ignored it. He clenched his fists.

"I should've gotten everyone, I know, but my mind was screaming at me: 'Save Fox! No matter what happens, you have to save him'! I was about to call you when you called me. I couldn't think of anyone else. I just... just had to make sure you were safe."

The air flooded out of Fox's lungs. That had to be the sweetest thing he had ever heard. "I... I..." He struggled to make a sound, but to no avail.

Wolf kept on, apparently oblivious to Fox. "I don't know how he knew I was in that ship, I don't know if that was supposed to happen, I don't know _anything_. But..." He sighed. "Yeah, he got me. He got me good."

Somewhere, something within Fox said, _Go._ _Now's your chance._

He didn't think about it; he just did it. He leaned closer to Wolf and—after a moment of hesitation—encircled the lupine in his arms. Wolf stopped the massage and sucked in a breath, then slowly embraced the vulpine back. Pressed against his chest, Fox could hear the lupine's pulse, which seemed unnaturally quick—almost as quick as his own.

He fell asleep listening to Wolf's heartbeat, comforted by that sense of warmth that still pulsed within him.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9: Window

**Author's note: **I really wish I had more time to look over this, or to provide a better author's note, but, I'm devoid of it. Good chance that I'll be updating this chapter later.

Band camp soon. I'd advise people to put my stories on alert, lest you get bored checking back every few days, 'cause it'll be a while.

* * *

Fox chewed his claws, counted spiders, inspected his wounds—anything to keep his mind off of what was going on. He thought he could hear screams, but he was almost sure he was imagining them.

He was alone in the dark cell—Andrew had taken Wolf, and the lupine's absence brought back thoughts that Fox thought he had buried. Peppy, Falco—were they alright? Did they survive? Was Slippy coming to save them? If he was, would the others be with him?

Of course they'd rescue him. They had to. Right?

He shook his head. He couldn't worry about that now—all that mattered was Wolf's and his surviving the moment. Fox tried to keep his thoughts way from the bloodstained room Andrew had taken him into, but they kept drifting back there.

He could see it—Andrew torturing the lupine. Torturing him in more ways than he had tortured Fox. Wolf lost too much blood, and he slipped into unconsciousness...

And his eyes never reopened.

Fox shook his head and growled, trying to tear himself away from that train of thought. Wolf would be fine. If he allowed himself to think otherwise, he wouldn't be able to bear it.

He sat back and tried to relax himself as best as he could. He closed his eyes and found himself imagining Wolf holding him again, and he felt much more capable of relaxing. He wasn't sure exactly how long he waited there, but what felt like an eternity later, he heard the doors clang open again, and heard an "oof" as someone was dropped on to the floor before the doors shut again.

He crawled over to where Wolf lay, hurting every second. When he drew close enough to get a decent view of Wolf, he could make out movements of Wolf's chest, but he flinched and almost looked away.

The lupine's right arm was mangled, and blood caked the fur there. The leg that he hadn't broken was damaged in a similar fashion. All throughout his body, the fur was matted, and Fox could feel several scratches. His heart started hammering. He wanted to pick Wolf up and hold him like the lupine had done for him, but... Gods, he just looked so horrible that Fox couldn't bring himself to do that—he might hurt something.

"Wolf, are you okay?"

Below him, Wolf let out a pitiful groan..

Fox's hands trembled. "It's going to be alright," he said. "I'm here." As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt stupid for saying them. What could he do? Absolutely nothing. He reached behind Wolf's head and started to scratch there, but his fingers met a nasty bump, and Wolf whimpered. Feeling particularly useless, Fox resorted to whispering more empty words of comfort.

"It's going to be alright..."

* * *

Fox sat in a corner of the cell, stealing a glance at Wolf, over in the opposite corner, and shaking his head.

He had lost count of how many times he had been in the bloodstained room, and of how many times Wolf had been in there. The lupine had insisted earlier that he wanted to be left alone, and had Fox agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

And so they had been doing this, for who-knew-how-many days. They would sit in their cell, munching on bitter-tasting food, drinking bitter-tasting water, staring at each other from opposite corners until Andrew would come in and take one of them into that room. When Fox was taken, he would pass out due to the horrible pain and be unable to do anything for what seemed like hours, and when Wolf was taken, Fox would sit in the corner and try to keep his thoughts away from the place, thinking of being rescued, and, for some reason, of Wolf holding him again.

In other words, thinking of things that would never happen.

Every time the cycle repeated itself, Fox became more and more weak. If this kept up, he would wither away into dust. Wolf wasn't faring any better, from the look of things. Much of the lush musculature that normally dominated his frame was gone. He looked skinny, weak, and _pathetic_. It was something Fox thought he would never see.

A familiar clink met his ears. Their food was here—the one thing that he had to look forward to anymore. Through the darkness, he saw Wolf's figure inching towards the clink, then there was the sound of metal scraping against the floor. Fox crawled closer, intent on getting his food. When he got close enough to slide the tray the rest of the way to him, he hesitated.

He picked up the bread and examined it, noticing again what looked like mold... Or was it mold? It didn't matter. He brought it up to his muzzle...

_It's not poisoned!_

The bread fell out of his hands. He stared at it as it tumbled back down on to the tray, thoughts racing through his head. The food was bitter. It didn't taste bad, but strange—he had never tasted anything quite like it, and, he realized with a start, that that probably was'nt an accident.

"Wolf..."

"Huh?"

Fox scooted closer until he was able to see the lupine clearly.

"This." He gestured to Wolf's tray. "Is it just me, or does it taste _weird_?"

Wolf's brow furrowed. "What does it matter? It's food."

"Yeah," Fox said, "but what if he..." He trailed off.

Wolf inclined his head a bit before looking back down at the tray. "So that's why I'm so weak..."

Fox nodded.

Wolf brought his good arm up to ruffle his ears. "What are we supposed to do then, starve?"

The lupine had a point, but still... "We'd probably be better off starving than eating this crap."

Wolf shrugged and sighed. "You're probably right..." He picked up the piece of bread, glared at it for a few seconds, then slammed it onto the ground and crushed it with his foot.

Or, that's what it looked like he had _tried_ to do. The slam wasn't very forceful, and when he brought his foot down, he whimpered and clutched at it as if someone had shot him.

Fox felt the full force of their situation hit him at that moment. Seeing Wolf like this—it was horrible. The lupine was reduced to where he couldn't even crush a piece of bread. "You're pitiful."

Wolf growled and stared back at him. "You're not any better, you know."

"I know," Fox said, trying to muster up a smile. He knew. He also knew that he was weaker than Wolf, and could only imagine how pitiful he looked. "Maybe once that drug is out of our systems, we'll feel better..."

He shuddered. He didn't even _know_ for certain that the food was drugged, and if it wasn't, he would be starving himself for nothing. It was almost futile—but it was the only hope he had, and he clung to it as if his life depended on it.

But even if it turned out that he starved to death, then it wouldn't be too bad. It would at least get him out of this room, and Wolf and he would die together.

He looked over at Wolf, only to frown at the lupine's heart-wrenching image. He chewed on his lip, at a loss for what to do. Fox had given up hope for rescue a long time ago, but seeing Wolf like this... It just wasn't right—it was so pitiful that it almost brought tears to his eyes.

Wolf wasn't someone who should be like this, and to see him in this state seemed to destroy what little sense the world still made. He had always acted so strong—_been_ so strong. He had always been afraid to show any kind of weakness.

But here he was, his forehead in his hands, staring at the ground, looking about as strong and hopeful as a puppy that had lost its mother. He needed help. Fox had to do something.

"We're gonna be fine," he said, "Slippy—he'll come. Just wait." Fox hated himself for saying it and he didn't believe himself for a second, but he saw the corner of Wolf's muzzle lift up the slightest bit, and that was enough to keep him going.

"Maybe he just had trouble or something. That's why he's late. He's gonna come though. Don't worry. We'll make it out of this."

He was lying right through his teeth, and he didn't care. If they were going to die, he at least wanted Wolf to die with a some semblance of hope—he wanted Wolf to die being Wolf, not that dejected lump in the corner.

"Yeah," Wolf said at length. "You're right. We'll be fine." He smiled a bit and leaned back, resting his head against the dirty floor.

The shift in Wolf's mood stirred something in Fox, and he found himself smiling too.

Fox was past caring for his own safety. He knew that they were going to die, that there was going to be no heroic rescue, so why did it matter?

But Wolf didn't know that, and the lupine was still smiling.

If Wolf went out of this cruel world with hope, then Fox had done something worthwhile. He couldn't save them, no, but he could keep the horrible truth from Wolf, keep him happy, keep him hopeful.

He mimicked Wolf's position, resting his head against the cold floor. The last thing that registered in his mind before he passed into sleep was a faint wetness around his eyes.

* * *

When Fox woke, the first thing he noticed was the pain, which he was pretty much used to by now. The next thing, though, was unexpected: he didn't feel quite as weak as he had before.

He didn't feel strong, definitely not, but he felt like he at least might be able to stand. Testing that, he sat up and put his weight on his feet, then slowly raised himself until he was standing. When his feet didn't give out, he felt something that he hadn't felt in a very long time: hope.

Grinning, he looked over to see Wolf still slumped on the floor. "Wolf!"

No response.

"Wolf!" Fox said again. He stumbled over to Wolf's body, leaned over, and shook him. "Get up!"

Wolf's single eye fluttered a bit and opened halfway. "What is it...?" His eye darted around a few times, then shot completely open. "You're... How're you doing that?"

Fox shrugged, still smiling. "Maybe it was the food. I feel a lot better now."

"Yeah," Wolf nodded and shifted himself to sit upright. "I... I think I do too. Can you help me up?"

Fox hesitated. "But... Your legs. You sure you want to do that?"

He was answered by an outstretched hand, hovering in front of him.

Indecision fluttered across the vulpine for a second, but he gave in. "Fine." He reached out and grasped Wolf's hand, gently pulling the lupine up to his feet.

He was surprised when Wolf was able to stand just as well as he was. "Wow. You recover fast."

Wolf shrugged and looked away, his ears dropping the slightest bit. "Whatever."

They stood there for a few minutes, but eventually, Fox sighed and sat back down. Being able to stand had been a wonderful feeling, but now that the initial magic of it had vanished, standing was just another way to burn energy that was best conserved. Wolf did the same seconds later, the warmth of his body tantalizing in the cold cell.

They sat there for a long while, neither of them saying anything.

An all-too-familiar sound of grinding metal filled the air, followed by footsteps. Something caused Fox to glance over at Wolf, and their eyes met. From just that brief contact, he understood. He knew what had to be done.

Andrew walked over to Wolf and kicked at him once. "Get up. It's your tur—"

It happened so quickly that Fox almost missed it. Wolf darted forward and sank his teeth into Andrew's arm, and the primate screamed. "Get off!" He flailed the bitten arm about madly, then brought up his other hand to land a vicious blow on Wolf, sending him flying into the floor with a deathly bang.

Fox found that he couldn't move.

Andrew had pulled out a gun from somewhere—the same one as before, from the look of things. He brought it up in what seemed to be slow motion.

Something snapped within Fox. He darted forward towards Andrew and grabbed on the gun with both hands. A menacing growl filled the air, one that, to his surprise, came from him. He felt the sheer thrill of fear as he had never felt it before. He wasn't going to die here, and he certainly wasn't going to let Wolf die either.

Fox gritted his teeth as Andrew tried to wrestle the gun back, firing it once in the process, the white, electric shot bouncing harmlessly off the walls of the cell.

"Give it back!" Andrew said.

Fox panted in exasperation, but he kept pulling. He didn't have the energy to do this—hell, he hadn't even had the energy to get over here. He had passed his physical limits and found that he was tapping into a hidden reservoir of energy that he didn't even know he had. But the lethargy was not gone. Strength pulsed within him in unison with the weakness.

Every second of it hurt, but he kept going. He couldn't stop. His body was on automatic now, working independently of his thoughts as it jerked and tore at the gun in a desperate attempt to snatch it away. He tried kicking out with his legs, but he was met with little success, and he also had the issue of balance to deal with. His arms were occupied, so he couldn't hit...

Then it struck him.

Following Wolf's example, he lowered his head and bit into Andrew's arm with as much force as he could muster. He was met with another beautiful-sounding scream, and the release of weight on the gun, almost causing him to topple backwards.

He held the gun in two hands and stared at it for a while, as one might do when given a fragile present. A few seconds later, he grasped it and pointed it at Andrew.

The primate paled and threw an arm up in front of his face. "No! What are you doing? You're supposed to be drugged!"

Fox felt himself grinning. "Lights out," he said, and pulled the trigger. A bolt of white shot from his weapon and rammed into Andrew, knocking him against the ground.

And then the strength left him.

Fox just kept standing, gasping for breath, unable to exert the effort required to sit down. Instead, he slouched bit by bit as his legs gave out until he collapsed on the ground. Every beat of his heart sent another wave of pain through his muscles.

Wolf.

Fox tried to call out, but his voice failed him, coming out as a hideous mixture of groans and pain.

Wolf.

He shifted his gaze towards where Wolf had fallen, seeing him, an obscure figure in the dark, still collapsed against the floor in that same position he had been minutes earlier. He wasn't moving... but he had to be alive. Andrew hadn't done anything serious. He'd just hit the lupine. Right?

If he hadn't been staring so intently, he wouldn't have seen the tiny motion that the body made. At first, he thought that it was in his head—that he thought he had seen it happen only because he wanted it to happen. He kept his eyes trained on Wolf and held his breath, waiting for movement.

Again, the body moved. "Fox."

The voice was weak and faint, but it sent a wave of relief through Fox. "You're... You're alive..." The sound of his own voice surprised him.

"We..." Wolf cleared his throat. "We gotta go. I think Andrew's out cold."

Fox winced. "I know. I don't think I can."

Wolf shifted so that he was sitting. "Come on, you getting weak on me?"

"I'm serious. I can't."

Wolf sighed, stood in a long, jerky motion, and walked over towards Fox, looking particularly like a nursing home patient. He stopped in front of the vulpine and extended a hand.

Fox stared at it for a while before extending his own hand and connecting it with Wolf's. The lupine pulled him up, and Fox's joints groaned in protest. Once he was standing, his legs threatened to give out beneath him again. He threw an arm around Wolf, clinging to the lupine for dear life.

"I've got you. Just hold on."

Fox tightened his grip in response. They started outwards at a grueling pace. Left. Right. Left. Right. Over and over and over again.

When they exited the cell, they entered a large corridor. Wolf turned to the right, and Fox, leaning on him, was dragged in the same direction. Every step sent another lance of pain from him, but he kept going. He didn't know where the strength was coming from.

He stole a glance over at Wolf. The lupine's head was darting about in every direction, looking rather silly. "What's wrong?"

"This place," Wolf said. "I've... I've been here before."

"What? Then, where's the exit?"

Wolf shook his head and averted his gaze. "I don't know! It was a long time ago. Years, probably."

Fox frowned a little. He could tell that Wolf wasn't telling him everything, but he didn't care. The lupine would have said if he knew where the exit was, because it was his only exit as well. Besides, Fox didn't want to bring up painful memories—this was probably the worst time to do that.

They came up to an intersection of halls, one in each direction, four in total. Wolf started to go towards the left, but Fox pulled him back towards the right. "This way," he said, feeling particularly smart. Prisons would probably be near the outside, so if they went right, they would be getting closer to a possible exit.

"Fox... I'm not so sure if that's a good idea..."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking up at Wolf. When he didn't get a response, he turned forward again, focusing on keeping his feet moving. What he saw caused him to freeze, almost tripping Wolf in the process.

The hall split off to the left and right. Directly in front of them was a window. From it, he could see Katina. The _planet_ Katina.

Fox's heart dropped. That was what Wolf had been hiding. They were in orbit. There was no escape.

A voice chimed overhead, causing Fox's heart to plummet even further.

"_Self-destruct sequence initiated; detonation in five minutes."_

Fox glanced back up at Wolf, and their eyes met. "Andrew," he said. "He recovered. He's... He's taking us out with him..."

Wolf didn't answer, and his eye didn't move from Fox's.

The vulpine blinked back tears. Was this how it was going to end? Dying on a self-destructing space station? It was so _stupid!_ He wished that he had finished off Andrew while he had the chance—moreover, he wished that he had just waited, because even back then, there was the tiny hope that Slippy would be able to save them.

Fox was having difficulty seeing. He looked down at the ground and dabbed at his eyes, wondering why he even bothered. He was going to die anyway.

_"Detonation in four minutes."_

"I..." Wolf stuttered. "Sorry. It's all my fault. It's all—" He gasped.

Fox looked up. Wolf's eyes were wide, and his mouth open. "Huh?"

"Andrew..." He gesticulated with his right arm. "He's... This isn't like him. He's a coward."

Fox nodded. "Yeah? And?"

"He'd never blow himself up. Think about it!"

Fox closed his eyes and concentrated. Wolf had to be right; Andrew was insidious, but he was also afraid, afraid of getting hurt, afraid of being stepped on—why else would he carry that stun gun with him?

It hit him like a hammer, knocking out all of his breath. He struggled for a moment to form the words. "Escape pods."

Wolf nodded. "We've got to find them!"

"_Detonation in three minutes."_

Hearing Wolf's voice and the chime of the ship awoke something inside of him. He had three minutes. Three minutes, or he was going to die. If he didn't give those three minutes all the effort he possibly could, _he would die_. There was no more holding back. He had to find those pods.

"Let's go!"

Wolf nodded and started forward again, Fox still leaning on him, his pace a bit quicker. They limped around the ship, checking every door, but they found nothing.

"You've got to know where they are," Fox said. "You've been here before."

"Yeah, been here, not lived here. Andross had tons of stations."

Fox frowned. "Come on, think!"

Wolf grunted, then his brow furrowed in thought.

"You can do it, Wolf. I..." He hesitated. "I trust you."

They both stopped walking at the same time. Fox's eyes met Wolf's single one, and they lingered there. Fox's hand moved of its own accord, resting on the lupine's cheek.

"_Detonation in two minutes."_

The voice snapped Fox out of his trance, causing his ears to wilt and his face to burn as he snatched back his hand and tore away his gaze. They had to keep moving. If Wolf couldn't remember, then they'd just have to comb the ship until they found them. "Come on, we've got to—"

"Follow me," Wolf said, dragging Fox into one of the corridors. There were doors galore, but Wolf didn't seem to pay any of them any attention.

And then, Wolf stopped, causing Fox to stumble. When Fox looked over, he saw the lupine was staring at something. He followed Wolf's gaze, and...

He recognized the symbol on that door...

"Over there!" he said, pointing.

They wrestled it open and hobbled into the room. Fox grinned, spotting five escape pod chambers, four of the pods still docked. There was a console on the wall. Fox stared at it, unsure what to make of it. "You know how to work these?"

"I'll handle it. Just get in one."

"Alright," he said.

Wolf walked with him and opened one of the pods. Fox slowly got in, curling himself up inside it and holding himself protectively. His eyes lingered on Wolf until the hatch closed before him.

_"Detonation in one minute."_

The last thought he had before rocketing off into space was a desperate prayer that Wolf would be able to get out in time as well.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10: Truth

Okay, yes, I'm well aware that everyone out there hates me for taking so long to update. And nobody wants to hear me ramble, anyway... but, oh well.

I feel like, at this point, this story would've stopped a couple of chapters ago if not for the help a select few people. I was going to post a little shout-out thingy... but I always hate those. And I've also recently acquired a phobia of author's notes, so I really want to keep it simple (like saying that helped, meh). But anyway, instead of all that, here's an interview question from a while back which covers the exact same topics:

_**What writers here have inspired you to keep moving forward even when the going gets tough? **_

_As far as writing inspiration goes, Basil-Ovelby has by far been the most influential. Her masterful stories are always thought-provoking, and I reread them whenever I find myself uninspired._

_Then there are the consistent reviewers, without which I would be lost. They are: SerpentPanda, DarkxKunoichi, Basil-Ovelby, and TheGreatMatsutzu._

_Then there are all the readers and all the reviewers, most of whom I can't name anyway._

_Then there are the people who're always willing to offer advice or be a creative vent whenever I come to a difficult situation. Those people are Brae, Xiivi, and, most recently, Foxkong (and a few others, but, well, I can't list everyone :P).  
_  
On to the story (after _six freakin' months)!_

* * *

The pod jarred against something, causing Fox's body to writhe against the belts holding him in place. He gritted his teeth as the waves of pain faded away. Moments later, he freed himself from his constraints. He was left with little room—hardly enough to move in—and began to feel claustrophobic.

He was here. He rattled around with the space in front of him until he could find a latch, then tugged on it.

A hydraulic door opened before him, revealing dusty, sand-colored terrain, bathed in the glow of the sun. He felt the heat even in the shade of the pod. Grunting, he lifted himself from his seat, and walked out into the wasteland. He turned around and searched the pod, emerging with a small supply bag. Unzipping it, he peeked inside, noting a compass, a few knives, and several packaged meals, which were probably loaded with preservatives and filler.

With the heat beaming down on him, he zipped the bag back up and limped around the pod, looking as far as he could in all directions. He couldn't make out any other pods.

His heart sank. Maybe Wolf didn't make it. Or maybe he just hadn't landed yet.

He sat down in pod's shadow and leaned against it, letting out a yawn. He hadn't realized how tired he was—every second, he had to struggle more and more to keep his eyes open. Right when he was about to give in, a curious sound filled the air.

It took him a moment to register what it was. His ears perked up and he jumped up to his feet, ignoring the pain. He looked around, trying to see it...

There it was! To the left, a good distance towards the hills. He watched as it descended, racing down like a shooting star.

It crashed in a beautiful explosion of dust, and Fox found himself limping towards it. It was a long and painful journey, and, by the end of it, his legs were close to collapsing and his arms were sore from hauling the bag. Soon, he could make out Wolf, climbing out of his pod and leaning against it.

"Hey! You're alive!" Fox said, coming to a stop.

Wolf shrugged, bringing up a hand to scratch at an ear. "I noticed."

Fox laughed for a bit, then there was silence—a heavy, intimidating silence.

He sat down.

There was no civilization in sight, and his teammates were probably dead. Then there was the conspiracy, which seemed so distant that he had to remind himself that it was still going on. The reality of it all hadn't set in yet, but he knew it would.

He cocked his head about, trying to make sense of the area. He assumed it was Katina, but even if it was, where exactly were they? He didn't know any large deserts on the planet.

He looked up and saw Wolf, sitting next to his pod, doodling in the sand with a clawtip.

"So, what happens now?"

"Hang on." Wolf continued doodling. Fox scooted closer and craned his neck, but he couldn't make out what the lupine was drawing. He shrugged and started creating little drawings of his own, ending up with several stick figures and an Arwing. He frowned, realizing that it probably wasn't such a great idea to stare at them, and erased them.

A few moments later, Wolf called. "You got a navigation system in there?" he said, pointing at the bag.

Fox, a little intrigued, grabbed it, unzipped it, and looked through it, tossing out several of the bulkier objects. "Nope."

"A map?"

He rifled through the bag again. "Nope."

Wolf growled. "Anything?"

Fox looked at the pile of objects he had taken out of the bag already. He picked what he thought was small compass out and held it up, staring at it—he'd never seen one outside of a textbook. "I've got this."

Wolf sighed and held out a hand. Fox threw it over to him.

"I didn't expect any better," Wolf said, fiddling with the thing. "These were probably the cheapest kits the bastard could buy."

Fox nodded, not sure what to say.

Wolf held up the compass and looked around again, then marked a few more things in the sand.

"Care to explain?"

Wolf paused, staring at his drawing. "Okay."

"When I targeted the pods, I aimed near Alcis. I figured the only way we could make it out of this alive is if we get the Great Fox. And maybe we could save your team too."

Fox nodded and started to say something, but Wolf continued.

"Seems like the targeting system was worse than I thought. I hope this compass is right, cause that's about all I have to go on right now. I don't feel like walking anywhere right now, though..." He looked at Fox. "Why don't we eat? I could use some real food."

Fox squinted. "Define 'real'."

"Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean." He stood, shuffled over to his pod, and got the bag out of it. He sat back down, opening the bag and pulling out one of the packages.

Fox pulled one out from his own bag and opened it, revealing pasta and some kind of meat. He picked the latter up and stared at it for a while. "Not my favorite, but it's edible. And not poisoned. Hopefully not poisoned." He took a bit out of it and winced. "Tastes like chicken."

Wolf raised his eyebrows and looked over at him, chuckling.

Fox ate for a while without speaking, occasionally glancing over at the lupine. When he was finished, he balled up his trash and stuffed it in the bag. It hadn't been bad—tasteless, but filling.

He looked over at Wolf, who was still eating. "What now?"

"We sleep."

Fox blinked. "Shouldn't we get moving? I mean, the longer we sit here, the worse off it gets for the rest of the team."

Wolf finished his meal, balled up the trash, and threw it off into the distance. "Use your head. We're gonna have to sleep sometime. I'd rather do it now while it's hot so we can move in the night."

Fox considered it for a few seconds. It wasn't a bad idea, and, if nothing else, it would get the drug out of his system. "I guess."

Wolf nodded, reaching around to grab his bag. "These kits wouldn't happen to have pillows in them, would they?"

"No luck. They'll prolly make good pillows, though." He stuffed his bag with all of the items he had taken out. He zipped it back up and laid it on the ground, then lay down and rested his head against it. It was stiff and lumpy, but it beat the hard, sandy earth. He closed his eyes and turned on his side to get the sun out of his eyes.

It didn't work, and the heat was almost too much to bear. He lay there for a few more minutes before sitting up. He took note of Wolf, who was laying on his side, facing towards Fox.

"Wolf."

"Yeah?"

"...It's hot."

The lupine snorted and rolled over. "It's a desert, genius. What'd you expect, moderately cloudy, temperatures in the lower eighties?"

"No, but still... couldn't we at least find some shade?"

Wolf lay there for a few more moments, then sighed and sat up "Yeah, I guess it is pretty hot..." He pulled out the compass and stared at it for a while, then gazed off in the distance. "Over there—" He pointed at a far-off, mountain-like ledge of rock. "—there's probably some shade over there, or a cave if we're lucky, and it's on the way. You up for it?"

"Yeah. It sure beats this." Fox stood, feeling his spine pop.

"Let's go," Wolf said, already standing.

Fox nodded, picking up his bag and following Wolf. The ledge was a pretty good ways off—several times the distance between their pods—and it seemed to go by a lot slower.

The farther Fox walked, the slower he had to go. By the time he was halfway there, he was panting, and his legs were once again close to collapsing. He could've sworn it had gotten hotter. Glancing over at Wolf, Fox could tell he was having difficulty as well.

Going on like this was foolish, but if Wolf could do it, he could too. He wasn't going to make his teammates suffer for his weakness.

With that in mind, Fox forced himself to continue. Left after right, over and over again. He started counting the number of steps he took, convinced that it would give him some assurance, but doing so only gave him a good idea of how unproductive he was.

He gritted his teeth. He had to stop, soon, or he was going to hurt something.

Twenty more steps. He'd do twenty more steps, then ask for a break.

He glanced over at Wolf. The lupine's eyes were on the ground, his tongue was lolling out.

_Five._

How would he respond when Fox asked him if they could take a break? Would he think Fox was weak? Maybe he would understand. Maybe he was in the same situation Fox was.

_  
Ten._

His feet would have made a poor metronome. They kept going slower and slower and slower... but Wolf's were too. Fox couldn't help but wonder if the lupine was matching his pace or if he was slowing down on his own.

_Fifteen_._  
_  
Each step took twice as much effort as the last one. He remembered from his drill training at the academy that the heel strikes the ground on the beat, and the heels pass on the "and." He counted in his head:

_Sixteen-and-seventeen-and-eighteen..._

"_Push yourself forward—never pull,_" they had said. He pushed. With every step, he pushed.

..._and-nineteen..._

One more step. He closed his eyes and pushed with all his might. As soon as his heel struck the ground, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wolf."

Wolf took another step, then turned around. "What?"

"Can we take a break?"

"A break? Come on, we're almost there."

"No, really. I mean it. I can't go any farther."

Wolf frowned, crossing his arms. "Fine. We'll stop for a few minutes. But no more."

"Thanks." Fox tried to sit down, but his legs gave out and he almost feel to the ground. When he recovered, he ripped open the bag and took out one of the small canteens of water.

He didn't realize how thirsty he had been until he had drank the entire thing. It was old, hot, and tasted like metal, but it was the best drink he had ever had.

When he brought it down, he noticed that Wolf was looking at him, his eye narrowed.

"What?"

"Were you thirsty?"

Fox shrugged. "I guess so. Still am."

"Go a little easy on it from now on... You do realize that's all the water you have, right?"

He paused, staring at the empty canteen in front of him. "No, I didn't... still, what good's water if you aren't alive to drink it?"

Wolf eye widened. "'Aren't alive'? Did you wear yourself out that much?"

Fox avoided Wolf's gaze, making a big deal of putting the lid back on the canteen and placing it in the bag.

"If you needed to take a break, you should've asked."

Fox didn't say anything. He could feel both Lylat and Wolf beaming down on him. He became aware of the searing heat, burning him through his fur, and his thoughts once again turned towards the rest of the team. "We gotta keep moving."

Wolf squinted, like he was trying to stare into Fox's soul. "I know, but..." He turned around and looked towards the ledge. "Hey, it's not much farther, and I think I can see a cave over there."

Fox saw it too—a near-black spot on the cliff. On the bright side, they had covered nearly all the distance. He estimated that only 30 or so meters were left to the cliff. To the cave, it was a bit longer. "I'm ready whenever."

"Are you sure? I mean, you don't have to be in a hurry. Just, whenever you're ready."

Fox laughed. "Sympathy? From Wolf O'Donnell?"

Wolf looked away.

"But, really, I can't take much more of this heat. If we can just make it to the shade, I could probably get some decent rest."

"Yeah," Wolf said. "Sleep'll help, and if we can get going during the night, it'll be no problem."

"Then let's get going." Feeling a bit better, Fox pushed himself up onto his feet.

* * *

It was amazing—the lupine seemed to be in as bad a condition as Fox was, and he kept going without breathing a single complaint.

They had only been going for a few minutes now—much more slowly than before—but Fox could already feel the strain. He hadn't been this tired since camp.

Like he did back then, he set his eyes on his destination and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. It was only a few more meters. If Wolf could could do it, he could too.

Or so he had thought.

One of his legs slipped and he plummeted face-first into the sand. He let go of the bag and threw out an arm to save himself from the impact, but all that did was sprain his arm.

He lay there for a while, too humiliated and weak to get up. He lifted his head and tried to spit out the sand, noticing Wolf hovering above him, his teeth jutting out in a grin.

"You alright?"

"Oh, yeah." Fox spat again. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Why don't we take another break?" Wolf sat down beside him, a little cloud of dust forming from the impact.

"Why not?" Fox said, aware that he didn't really have a choice. He rolled over and sat up, pausing a moment to dust himself off. He had to lean over a bit to pick up the bag, which he had thrown a good ways. He unzipped it, pulled out the full canteen, and a took a long draft from it, swishing the water around a bit to get all the sand. He swallowed, coughing a few times as the dirt washed down his throat.

He glanced over at Wolf, who was screwing the lid back on one of his canteens. "You ready to go?"

"You know, you don't to be in such a big rush." Wolf unscrewed the lid and took another small sip.

Fox felt his fur bristle. "I _don't_? The more time we spend here, the less likely it is for my team to be alive, okay?"

"Is that what this is all about?"

"What do you expect me to do, take my time? They could be dying!"

Wolf dropped the canteen, not looking at Fox. "Stop for a minute and _think_, would you? Do you even know how long we were trapped in that place? If they were going to die, they would have already been dead by now. Chances are, even if they were alive, that they've already left."

"They wouldn't leave without me."

"Yes, they would. Would you stay at an abandoned military base for a week hoping for one guy to turn up if two others were dying from a bomb?"

Fox started to say something, but stopped himself.

"Yeah. Exactly. Look, man," he said, looking Fox in the eye, "you've got to think. You're trying to be the big hero and rush over there to save them. You're not in the condition to do that. If you break a leg or pull a muscle trying to play hero, you'll never make it. You might even die." He waved an arm. "Then who'd be the hero?"

"But," Fox started, thinking about Wolf's legs, "you're doing fine—"

"I'm a wanted mercenary. I'm used to this—running, hiding. But you've never had to do any of that. I'd be willing to bet the toughest thing you've ever done is boot camp."

Fox hesitated, then nodded.

"You can't expect yourself to keep up with me. Stop trying."

Fox rested his forehead in his hands, feeling the corners of his mouth turn down. "Then why are we even going back? If they left, the Great Fox would be gone, too."

"Because," Wolf said, looking away, his voice cracking, "that's all we have left."

Fox stared at the sand, paralyzed. It all made sense now.

He buried his face in his hands, tears already starting to form

"Hey." Fox heard shifting from Wolf's direction. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Leave me alone," Fox said. He hadn't believed the reality of everything before, but now...

He clenched his fingers, wincing as he yanked out clumps of fur.

They'd warned him not to trust Wolf. If he would've listened, then they'd all still be in the Great Fox, enjoying full meals, soft beds, and air conditioning. Sweet, cool air conditioning.

"Sheesh... I didn't mean to—"

Fox snapped his head to focus on Wolf, squinting in the glare of the sun. "It's all your fault!"

Wolf recoiled, his eyes opening wide. "What?"

For a few moments, he couldn't form a coherent sound. "I had everything I could ever want. I was on _vacation_. Then you had to show up and ruin everything!"

Wolf's head was darting from side to side now. He opened his mouth to speak, but Fox didn't care.

"They told me not to listen to you. But I..." Fox fumbled for words. "You tricked me."

"Hey, none of this was my fault, okay?"

"Like I believe that." Fox stood up, the quick motion sending a jolt of pain through him. A wave of dizziness swept through him when he reached his full height, causing him to keel over, panting, resting his hands on his knees.

He head sounds of movement beside him. "Whoa, okay, I get it. The heat's getting to you. Just sit down, and try to relax."

Fox felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He jerked away from it, then took a few stumbling steps in the opposite direction, feeling nauseated.

Wolf said something, but Fox couldn't make out the worlds. Everything was spinning. He had to get away. He took a few more steps, then realized that his face was buried in the sand again.

His eyes burned for a while, then, there was nothing.


	11. Chapter 11: Puzzle

This was mostly written back in prehistory, but I did some revisions and added several pages during the last few days post–band camp. In other words, when I got home I felt like crap and couldn't do anything but sit in front of the computer (not like I usually do much else), and it seems I have a habit of writing away my stress. So, I somehow always write the most when I'm going through the most difficult parts of life. ./shrug Go figure. (Also, it took me like two days to upload this since FFN broke.)

_One chapter remains._

* * *

"say dem words."

(Some pit girl.)

* * *

Fire.

It was the first thing Fox noticed when he woke. He figured he must be crazy, as there would be no reason to light a fire in a desert...

He shivered and moved closer to the flames, noticing for the first time how cold it was. A quick look around the place revealed that he was in a cave, and he could see Wolf leaning against a rock on the other side of the fire, not quite facing in Fox's direction.

Fox remembered heat. There had been heat, and there had been walking. Lots of walking. Then, the cave—that was probably where he was at now. Then, there had been more heat and more walking. Then, there was... he glanced over at Wolf, trying not to give himself away. When his eyes settled on Wolf, the lupine stared back at him. He felt his ears go down and he turned away. There had been _that_.

"You're up."

Fox wasn't sure if that was relief or remorse in Wolf's voice. He half-wanted to thank Wolf for not abandoning him and half-wanted to run before the other would have an opportunity to do anything. He stared at the fire, waiting for some kind of sign.

"Feeling better?"

There, that was it. Fox looked up at Wolf, being careful not to make eye contact. "I'm okay." He felt much better, actually. Stronger than he had felt in a long time. The drugs must have worn off.

He continued to stare into the darkness just behind Wolf, biting his lip. He could feel the tension like a tangible object. "I'm sorry. I dunno what came over me..."

Wolf was looking at him now with the most serious expression Fox had ever seen. "Don't be sorry. I don't like hangin out with sorry people." A few moments after he said that, the lupine broke down, giving a few short spurts of laughter.

Fox grinned, taking that as a sign that he had been forgiven.

Wolf said, "I guess I can understand, considering everything that'd happened up to that point. I guess it was kinda my fault, too..."

"But—"

"Don't give me any of that crap. You're supposed to be glad when someone else takes the blame."

Fox frowned into the fire. He noticed that it wasn't like a normal fire, with wood and flames, that it was generated by some kind of mechanical, box-shaped device.

Fox hovered his hands above the flames, turning them back and forth. He still felt a bit awkward after what had happened, but if Wolf was going to let it go, he might as well go with it. "Are we moving soon? You said we were gonna go in the night, right?"

Wolf shifted his weight. "Yeah, but I'm still tired." He looked over at Fox. "I kinda had to carry you over here, you know."

Fox felt his ears wilt, and he brought up a hand to scratch at them. "Oh."

"We'll get moving before the sun's up, though... we don't have any time to waste." He paused, fixating his gaze on the fire, unmoving. "You do realize that we have limited supplies, right?"

"I know."

"You do realize that we're probably going to die here, right?"

Fox winced, his hands trembling over the fire. "I know."

"But I don't see the point in us killing ourselves. It's not really _that _far back to Alcis. We can make it there with no problem... but if nothing's there, we're going to die no matter how quickly we get there."

"But the team..."

"Fox," Wolf said, "I already told you, there's nothing we can do to help them. We're too late. What's happened has already happened, and there's nothin we can do to change it."

"I know, it's just..." Fox leaned back, his eyes drifting up to the dark ceiling of the cave. He could barely hear his voice when he spoke. "I hope they made it out alive."

"You should worry about yourself more."

Fox closed his eyes. The funny thing was, he didn't really care about himself anymore. He was past that stage—deep down, he had known since being taken captive that he was going to die. Maybe it was that... or maybe...

He rested his eyes on Wolf, trying not to be too obvious. They'd tried to kill each other several times in the past—Fox had tried to kill him not even a couple of hours ago. Sheer luck was the only reason why they were both still alive after all that. They _hated_ each other—no, they were _supposed_ to hate each other—so why, then, did Fox feel so _right_ whenever he was with him?

Shifting around the fire, Fox settled himself beside Wolf, leaning his head against the lupine's shoulder. Closing his eyes, he brought around a hand to rest on Wolf's other shoulder, drawing him into a light embrace. He held his breath, waiting for a response.

"Fox..."

Fox looked up to see Wolf staring down at him, the light of the flames casting deep shadows across his face, outlining his features. In his folly, Fox has almost lost him—and now the guilt hit him. He imaged what it would be like to be stranded here alone. And then he realized that this entire time, he had been staring at Wolf, and he couldn't make himself look away.

Before he knew what he was doing, Fox was on top of the lupine, pressing his lips against Wolf's own. When it ended, Fox leaned in, his hands moving of their own accord down Wolf's back.

Wolf stiffened. "Uhh, Fox..."

That was when he realized what he was doing. Fox tore himself away, turning his back to Wolf, his ears pressing down against his skull. "Sorry."

There were a few minutes of silence, then: "What'd I tell you about saying that?"

Fox felt a strange urge to laugh. "Well..."

"Nevermind." Then, in a more serious tone: "Don't feel bad about it. You can't be thinking right. I mean, you just tried to kill me a few hours ago. It may be a while before you can control your mind again—you had pretty serious heatstroke."

Fox couldn't help feeling a sting. He stared into the fire, feeling as if Wolf was scrutinizing his slightest twitch. Both he and Wolf knew that he had been in complete control of himself—of that Fox was certain.

When Wolf spoke, his voice had a much different timbre than before. "You know how I feel, right?"

Not taking his eyes off the fire, Fox nodded. He'd been wanting to hear that for a while.

"And, I'm sorry, Fox, but, as much as I'd like it to...."

The words felt like an icy dagger pressed against his throat.

"Let's agree to save all the personal crap until later, alright? Right now, we have to do our best to get out of here, and we can't let anything get in the way. Okay?"

Swallowing, Fox managed to say, "Okay." He leaned back against the wall of the cave and stared into the fire, trying to make sense of it all.

Things had certainly changed. Or maybe they hadn't.

By some cruel twist of fate, the one person Fox cared about was the same one that he was supposed to hate. Since the start of the Lylat Wars, it had been ingrained in their minds that they were meant to kill each other, but underneath, they had been nothing but tools employed by either side, and had little choice in deciding their disposition.

Before they had met as people, not tools, they had been forced to hate each other and believe that they were sincere about it. Fox did not hate Wolf, or even Andrew, though—he hated the tools of the enemy. Now that the enemy was gone, the hate had vanished... or had it? he thought, thinking back to what had happened in the desert. No, the hatred was still there. Maybe buried, but there nonetheless.

Even if they overcame that, lived through the desert, and Fox could convince himself to approach the subject again, even if the other agreed...

Nobody would accept it. He would have to hide it. And then what would it be but a burden?

It was so tantalizing—Fox had discovered a path to contentment, yet what was and what had been prevented him from following it.

Looking over at Wolf, Fox and saw the same introspective look that he would've expected himself to have. Maybe the lupine was thinking about the same thing he was.

It seemed that, no matter how many willed them to, some things were not meant to be changed.

* * *

They moved in the night. Fox managed to keep pace with Wolf for the most part, but he suspected that the lupine was going slower to accommodate him. The last canteen of water ran out as they were approaching the base.

Alcis looked much bigger now than he remembered. The central building towered over the walls, dwarfing the smaller buildings that surrounded it. Portions of the wall were charred and looked as if they'd been blasted away—that caused Fox's heart to bang against his chest a few times.

There was still hope. There had to be.

Fox followed Wolf towards one of the burnt-out sections of the wall, shivering a little. The lupine turned around and faced him, crossing his arms and exhaling a cloud of mist.

"Okay... well, we're here."

"I figured that much."

Wolf was quiet for a moment. He leaned back against the wall, resting one leg against it and looking off into the distance. "I'd be willing to bet this is a trap..."

"Probably," Fox said. "But it's not like we have any choice, is it?"

A look of resignation. "...not really. Just be on the lookout. I don't really want to have to drag your carcass when this is all over with." He gave a lazy smile, but in it Fox could see no emotion save sorrow. It seemed almost like a final farewell.

Fox forced himself to grin, and he imagined it looking the same as Wolf's had. "Right back at ya."

"Then let's go." Wolf stood upright and drew his blaster, gesturing at Fox. "Cover me."

Fox nodded, drawing his own blaster and making sure it was fully charged. He kept his gaze low, moving along at a steady jog as he followed the swishing motion of Wolf's tail. The lupine stopped several times to look around and be sure that there was nobody watching them—not like he could have done anything if he saw someone.

The trek passed swiftly. Before long, they were at the door to the central building. Up close, it looked even larger, and it seemed to radiate a sense of foreboding doom. Fox swallowed.

Wolf was looking back at him, waiting. Fox nodded, then motioned towards the door.

In a few seconds, they were in. It was dark—much more so than Fox was prepared for. His eyes had just began to adjust when—

Light. Blinding light. He shielded his eyes, the image of white burned into his vision.

"Oh, shit."

That was Wolf. Fox drew his hands away from the light, wincing and squinting along the way. He blinked a few times, then saw exactly what Wolf was _oh shit_ing about.

Fox's body tingled as if icy needles pricked every inch of his skin.

They were not alone in the room. Four others were there—two Cornerian soldiers, armed with blaster rifles, one pointing at Fox and the other at Wolf; one Andrew, the cruel look replaced by one of smug satisfaction; and one other that Fox didn't know. A vixen.

"Who..."

The vixen shook her head. "Fox McCloud, you are under arrest."

His jaw dropped, and his tongue tangled in his mouth for a few seconds before he could respond with, "On what charges?"

"The murder of Wolf O'Donnell."

A rifle hummed and fired, the bolt hitting Wolf's chest, knocking him over. Fox yelped and started to walk towards Wolf, but stopped when the two rifles locked on him.

The vixen spoke again: "Drop your weapon."

There was a clang as Fox's blaster struck the ground.

"Come with us peacefully and you will save yourself a lot of trouble."

Fox could feel the adrenaline flowing through his veins. His heart rate was faster than he'd ever remembered in being in his life. He tried to calm himself and make sense of the situation.

He was surrounded by people who all wanted to kill him. The only person who could save him was probably near death. Looking around, he could see only one exit, and that wasn't an option. There were corridors to his left and right, and one directly across from the exit...

He had to make sure Wolf was okay, but at the same time he had to save himself. He didn't stand a chance of doing the former against these odds, so...

Fox had an idea.

He sprang towards the corridor to his right, going into a roll to avoid blaster fire. One of the shots seared the skin on his right arm, but he ducked into another corridor moments later, flatting himself against the wall, straining to hear.

At first, there were footsteps. Then, a voice, the damned vixen again:

"No. Get our evidence to the ship. We'll handle this."

"But Gen—"

"I don't want to hear it."

A pause, the sound of boots scuffing the floor. "You sure you can do this?"

"Go!"

There was a sigh, then slow footsteps.

"Find him." Fox knew she was speaking to Andrew. "When you have him, _do not engage_. Come get me and we will handle him together."

Biting his lip, Fox began creeping down the corridor. He knew what he was looking for—the problem was, he didn't know where he was supposed to be looking for it. He jogged through the corridors as quickly as he could without making too much noise, changing direction every once in a while when he heard someone nearby.

And that was when he realized that it was all beginning to fall into place. Like pieces in a puzzle, he finally knew what was going on. But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. It was time for action.

Fox had to restrain himself from yipping when he found it. It was just like he'd imagined, just like the one back in Orrin with all the screens lined up on a wall. He eased the door shut behind him and locked it, then began fiddling with the keyboard. A menu popped up on screen:

_[Alcis central database: flight shift record...]_

Gritting his teeth, Fox closed it, then navigated through the interface for a few more seconds.

_[External database backup options] _

_[back up] [restore] [settings] [cancel]_

And that was when he realized that he had no clue what he was doing, or if what he had in mind was even possible. He spend several minutes digging through the terminal, and with each useless menu that popped up he felt more and more like punching the screen in.

**_Click_.**

Fox froze.

_**Click.**_

There it was again—there could be no doubting it now. Someone was trying to get in, and that wasn't the sound of a doorknob. He rested his head in his hands, tapping his fingers against the side of his skull. _Think, Fox, think..._

He began banging his fingers against the keyboard, opening every menu he could find.

_**Click**_.

Finally, it popped up:

_[Radio transmission options]_

_[send signal] [decode signal] [settings]_

_**Click**_.

He pressed the _[send signal]_ button and began entering the specifications for the message. With any luck, it would go through and—

_**Click**._

A horrible, booming sound erupted from the door behind him. The blast of hot air made him lurch forward, ramming his face on the control panel. He could taste blood. He jerked himself up and entered the final letters of the message, then hit the _[send]_ button.

Someone tugged at his shirt. Fox spun around, lashing his legs out. They contacted with the other, eliciting a howl of pain.

It was Andrew.

There was no way Fox could do this. He didn't stand a chance. Gritting his teeth, he stood, grabbing the chair and hurling it at Andrew.

The ape collapsed under the chair's weight. A few seconds later, he was back on his feet again and heading once more towards Fox. The vulpine kicked and punched, trying to avoid the inevitable. Andrew ignored the blows and grabbed Fox, pinning him against the control panel.

Fox could feel Andrew's breath as he spoke. "Any last words, Fox McCloud?"

Words—that gave Fox an idea.

"Why are you doing this?"

If Fox hadn't been so concentrated on it, then he probably wouldn't have noticed, but it was there—Andrew's grip loosened the slightest bit. "Duty."

"What duty? To who?"

The grip tightened, and Andrew shook Fox, sending the vulpine's head banging into the panel. "What do you mean, to who? You're a _murderer_, and deserve everything you get_._"

The world appeared blurry for a few moments. Fox wanted to close his eyes and let the world collapse in on him, and he probably would have if he didn't have that image of Wolf still ingrained in his mind.

"What did Andross ever do for you?"

"You have no idea what it's like..." Another loosening of Andrew's grip.

"Andross killed my father," Fox said. "I know what it's like.

Fox gasped as Andrew's grip redoubled, the ape's hands clasped around his throat. Andrew's face hovered inches away from Fox's, the ape's spittle flying out at him. "I see what you're trying to do. It won't work."

Fox's peripheral vision faded. He strained against Andrew's hands, taking in as much air as he could. "I stopped caring about my own life a long time ago. But if we don't act now, Wolf is going to die."

"I don't care about Wolf."

Fox managed to pry Andrew's hands up enough that he could get a decent breath. "How can you say that? Wasn't working with Star Wolf better than all this? I'd be willing to bet Wolf was better to you than Andross ever was."

Andrew's eyes stared off into the distance for a while before he slowly drew back his hands. When he spoke, his voice was almost inaudible. "Uncle Andy wasn't always like that..."

Fox kept his motions still, afraid that interfering may remind Andrew of who he was in the room with.

"He always brought gifts. He... he took me when my parents died. But..."

Fox blinked. "Then the 'Andy' you knew was dead long before I ever saw him."

And to Fox's astonishment, Andrew brought up his hands and buried his face in them. Realizing his opportunity, Fox tried to overcome his shock.

"I know what you're going through. But you can't... you just have to let go, you know? The past is the past, and the more cling to it, the worse it'll make you feel. Trust me, I know."

Andrew held that tableau, unmoving. He looked so small now, as if some heavenly force had cut out half of his height and weight.

Fox took a few deep breaths, letting them out as slowly as he could manage. He couldn't remember a time when air had tasted so good. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, waiting on some sort of response from Andrew, but, eventually, the ape looked up, his eyes locking onto Fox.

Taking that as a cue, Fox said, "You gonna kill me over what can't be helped or help save your old captain?"

Andrew frowned, then said, "I hate you. I want to kill you and make you suffer like you did to Uncle Andy."

The ape sighed. "But... that wouldn't help anything. You're right—and that makes me hate you even more. I'll help."

"Deal?" Fox extended a hand.

Andrew hesitated for a moment before accepting the handshake. "Yeah, whatever. Just shut up and tell me what to do before I change my mind."

This was part of the plan, too, Fox realized. He was shaking so much that he had to take a few seconds to calm himself before saying, "Okay. You got a weapon?"

Andrew responded by holding up a blaster pistol, then a knife.

"Good. Give me the blaster, I'm useless with a knife."

Andrew shook his head and grimaced, but handed it over nonetheless. "You owe me big time for this."

"Whatever. Here's the plan: we're going to sneak out and get to Loras's ship, dispatch the guards, and save Wolf. Then, we wait."

"Uh, _wait_? Are you crazy? And what about Loras?"

"Worry about her when the time comes. And I sent out a distress signal to—wait," Fox said, "Do you know anything about Star Fox?" _Please_, he thought, _let them still be alive_.

"Nope," Andrew said, pointing a finger at Fox. "I got what I wanted."

Fox sighed. "If they're still around—which they probably are—and still alive, which I hope they are... then they should be on their way now. If not, we'll have to use Loras's ship." He took another glance at the screen, then back at Andrew before starting towards the door. "Let's go."

"Won't we run into Loras if we go out the main door?" Andrew said as they walked through the halls.

"No," Fox said. "Because Loras wants us to rescue Wolf."

Andrew cocked an eyebrow, then snorted. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain later. Just follow me."

Just as he'd thought: Loras wasn't waiting for them. Loras was nowhere to be found. Again, all part of the plan.

Fox was out into the cold, desert air again. He had to ask Andrew where the ship was, but finding it was pretty easy, since it wasn't too far from the building.

The ship was about the size of a small tanker, probably big enough to hold three or four crew members. That was good, Fox decided. That meant it probably had its own medical bay.

The door was open, so he entered without difficulty, motioning for Andrew to follow him. As Fox maneuvered through the ship, his breathing seemed abnormally loud, and he tried to silence his footsteps. When he found the medical bay and peered in through the door, he had to stifle a gasp.

The two soldiers were in there, looming over Wolf's body. There was a large red stain that had spread throughout part of the lupine's clothing; the sight almost made Fox whimper.

Stifling his emotions, he lifted the blaster to eye level so that he could aim.

Right before he pulled the trigger, he saw the soldier that he was aiming at cast a glance his way, then saw the look of panic on the soldier's face before the shot ripped into him and he collapsed on the ground.

The second soldier had his rifle up by then and was aiming at Fox, who ducked out of the doorway just in time to avoid a shot. He could still feel the heat from the bolt as it collided with the wall.

Fox made a gesture with his head over at Andrew. The ape nodded, steeled himself for a minute, then darted into the room. Fox heard a strangled scream and the sound of a blaster clattering against the floor, then silence.

He was in the room a moment later, leaning over Wolf, hands tracing gentle patterns in the lupine's head fur. "You alright?"

There was no response. Probably unconscious. Hopefully unconscious.

Growling, Fox turned to Andrew. "I'm going to go to the control room," he said. "Gonna try to make contact with the Great Fox. You stay here and make sure nothing happens to Wolf."

Andrew didn't acknowledge that he'd heard, but Fox knew that he'd made his point. He was out of the room and in the control room a moment later, tapping at the keyboard. A few minutes of digging through menus, then he had a transmission window open. He configured the utility to make contact with the Great Fox, then—

"Look how the tides have turned."

Fox whirled in the chair, gripping the blaster and raising it to eye level.

It was Loras. The vixen wore the typical soldier uniform, but had a badge that marked her as a general tacked to her breast. He would have been astounded by her simple elegance had the circumstances been different. What occupied his attention the most now was the blaster pistol that Loras had drawn, aimed directly at him.

He didn't flinch, though. Just waited. When the sound of the blaster filled the room, he didn't jump. It missed him, and instead hit something on the wall behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know that it was a camera she'd just blown.

As soon as the camera was out, the blaster dropped from her grip, clattering against the floor. She looked much weaker now.

"So you're the one who's been doing all the plotting," Fox said.

She nodded, eyes on the cold metal floor. "I could have killed you," she said. "I had so many chances it was unreal. But I didn't. I convinced him that I was doing the best I could, that you were much tougher and smarter than you were. I still had to do the big things like arrange the ambushes, but..."

"Who's _him_?"

She blinked. "He has my husband and both of my daughters. He promised he would torture and kill them if I didn't do what he said. You have to understand, I didn't have a choice."

Fox growled. "Who is he? Tell me!"

"Dengar."

Fox clenched his fists, claws digging into the skin underneath his fur. Of course. Only Pigma could be so cunning, so ruthless, and so cowardly at the same time. Only he would sink this low.

"I've caused you so much grief," the vixen said, "but it had to be done. I hope you understand the risks I've taken by doing this."

"You won't be forgotten, Loras."

She grimaced. "My name is Serena Loras, and let me tell you that I'm not doing this for you, Fox. I want to see that pig behind bars. If you can't promise me you'll do that, then..." She produced a switch. "I can follow my original orders, and press this button. I don't care if it takes me out too—I've got nothing left to live for."

He recognized it. It was a radio transmitter, most likely a self-destruct switch.

Fox swallowed, feeling himself sweating. "I promise. This can't go unpunished."

"Then call your friends. Tell them to hurry. The guards are out and I haven't reported in a while, so it's only a matter of time before he tries to contact me."

Fox nodded. In just a few seconds, he had a communication link up with the great Fox. Peppy's face appeared onscreen, looking worried—but oh gods, it was Peppy.

"Fox? Is that you?"

Fox let out the deep breath that he hadn't realized he'd taken, then burst into laughter. They were alive. "Yeah."

"Thank the gods you're alive. Where are you? We just got a signal from Alcis and are on our way there now, but... I don't know, it could be another trap."

When the gravity of the situation hit him again, Fox shook his head. "No, Peppy, that was me. I'm on Loras's ship now." He sent a glance back towards the medical bay before hunching forward in his seat. "Please, Peppy, hurry. Wolf is dying."

The hare flinched at the mention of Wolf. "We just left Kanburg, so it will be a few minutes. We'll head to your current location, okay?"

Kanburg... if memory served, it was the nearest town, a good place to stock up without going too far from the base. "Okay," he said. "Hurry."

"Peppy out." There was a flash of static as the link cut out, then the screen was blank.

He ignored Loras's eyes trailing him as he made his way back to the med bay. He noticed that Andrew was still sitting in the same place as before, as if he hadn't even breathed since Fox had left.

"You can go to the bridge," Fox said. "Loras is there, but she's not hostile. I'll... stay here and take care of Wolf."

"Seriously, what is going on?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, we just need to worry about getting out of here alive, okay?"

Andrew hesitated, nodded and was out the door in a few seconds. For a moment, Fox felt that maybe it wasn't such a bright idea having Andrew and Loras in the same room, but he dismissed that thought when his gaze fell on Wolf.

He was laying on what looked like some kind of tiny bed. His chest rose and fell at regular intervals, causing the spot of red on his shirt to appear to move. If not for that, Fox would have almost been able to imagine that Wolf was sleeping.

Fox got on his knees and leaned over the bed, hand instinctively going to the other's forehead to check for temperature, then to the neck to check for pulse, not like that did him any good. Fox fidgeted with his claws for a minute before deciding that it would be easier if he just got Wolf's shirt off. It took a bit of mental steeling before he could bring himself to do that, though.

Fox sucked in a breath of air at the sight, then darted around the room, searching for some kind of... something. The wound wasn't extremely large, but was still a nasty-looking burn that had seared off all the fur in the area, overall one of the worst that Fox had seen.

He found a few containers of name-brand antiseptic and analgesic. Picking up a nearby container of cotton swabs, he took one out and soaked it in antiseptic. He gently placed it against the wound and rubbed it around, then repeated the process for the analgesic and whatever else he could get his hands on, trying not to wince as the pad connected with the exposed flesh.

His worries from earlier were gone, superseded by stronger ones. He wanted Wolf to wake up, wanted to see those purple eyes again and hear the gruff voice. Anything other than that no longer seemed to matter.

When he was done with that, Fox lifted the other's head and began feeling along his skull, searching. He had a hunch that a blaster wound alone wasn't enough to knock Wolf out. It took a bit of probing to find the bump, but when he found it, it was painfully obvious. He rolled his fingers around it, trying to gauge how big it was and if there was going to be any serious damage.

"Ouch. Y'know, that doesn't, ugh, feel very good."

Fox had been so concentrated on the wound that he hadn't noticed the movement at first, and Wolf's voice took a while to register.

Fox grinned up at the other. "You're awake!" He ruffled the fur on Wolf's chest and smoothed it again. "I was worried for a while."

"Well..." Wolf's eyes darted around the room. "Wait, where are we? What's going on?" He tried to get up, but he winced in pain and Fox placed a hand on his shoulder, gently easing him back down onto the bed.

Just then, Fox heard the familiar sound of blaring engines coming from outside, eventually dying down to a familiar deep rumble.

"Just stay calm," Fox said, still stroking Wolf's fur, avoiding the burn. "Everything's going to be okay. It's over, Wolf. It's over."

* * *


End file.
